New Energy

Published by the Center for a New American Dream

2000 NATIONAL TV-TURNOFF WEEK APRIL 24—30

A quarterly report on consumption, quality of life and the environment No. 11, Spring 2000 ◆ $3

Page 3 Letter from Betsy Taylor

Page 4 Programs and Services for Members

Page 5 Readers Respond

Page 6 Online Discussion: Land Conservation

Page 8 How We Lost Silence

Page 10 The Bad, the Good and the Truly Ridiculous

Page 11 Buying Green: Flowers

Page 12 Resources

Page 13 Fun Box

Page 14 Step by Step

Page 15 Orwell’s Corner

TOWARD A NEW ENERGY ETHIC By Seth Dunn

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n his 1899 classic The Theory of the Leisure Class, the iconoclastic economist Thorstein Veblen invented an expression that would stand the test of time. In decrying the “conspicuous consumption” of turn-of-the-century American high society, Veblen was boldly attacking a sacred cow: challenging the extent to which extraneous expenditure had become the mark of success, with people spending not to satisfy real needs but to gain prestige. One hundred years later, the phrase has become part of our linguistic library, inscribed in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as “Lavish or wasteful spending thought to enhance social prestige.” It’s well worth revisiting Veblen’s late-19th century observation as we begin the 21st, at a time when the leisure class of the global village, the United States, is—notwithstanding evidence of public concern about smog, acid rain, oil imports, and global warming—engaged in “conspicuous energy consumption.” With only 4 percent of the world’s population, the United States today accounts for nearly a quarter of global energy use. “Killer kitchens” with energysucking “vampire” appliances have entered the lexicon of normally staid energy analysts; house sizes are ballooning, spawning the moniker of “starter mansions;” and people are driving longer and longer distances in bigger and bigger cars—including the wildly popular sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) that have earned the derision of humorists and, from environmentalists, the title of “suburban assault vehicles.” Flaunting fuel economies that teeter in the teens, SUVs are emblematic of our energetic wastefulness,

representing the extent to which American society— intentionally or not—equates economic prosperity with energy gluttony.

“L i g h t ” Tr u c k s Do n’ t Tr e a d L i g h t l y SUVs, light vans, and pickup trucks—collectively if deceptively called “light trucks”—have been a speedily growing segment of the U.S. car fleet, increasing their share of new car sales from 20 to 46 percent between 1975 and 1999. Far less efficient than traditional passenger cars, they are the major factor behind the American auto fleet’s fall from its energy diet since the oil shocks of the 1970s. From a mid1980s peak of 25.9 miles per gallon (mpg), average fuel economy has fallen to 23.8 mpg in 1999. And while passenger cars averaged 28.1 mpg in 1999, so-called light trucks rated a weak 20.3 mpg. How can this be, when auto companies are continually impressing upon us their improvements in transmission, fuel injection systems, and other efficiency technologies? The answer Anna White lies in the trend toward more powerful vehicles, which has more than offset other efficiency advances. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), increases in vehicle weight, horsepower, and acceleration performance have cost the car fleet the equivalent of a 5 mpg improvement. As the light trucks’ portion of the car fleet expands, its share of fuel consumption—and emissions—grows even more quickly, from 25 percent in 1975 to 60 percent in 1999. During this first decade of the new century, light trucks are expected to be continued on page 2

New Energy Ethic continued from page 1

ment that culture evolves when per capita energy consumption increases, and that a society’s ability to utilize energy for human advancement and needs is an accurate measure of its degree of civilization. This line of argument is especially seductive for Americans. Indeed, if the rise and advance of a civilization could be reduced to its knack for using up energy, then America would be the Periclean Athens of our age. Correlating cultural evolution with per capita energy consumption, furthermore, places the United States eons ahead of its Neolithic neighbors. The SU V s C r o s s t h e Po n d average American consumes four times Veblen wrote about the leisure class as much energy as a Japanese citizen, because he believed this class set the INDEED, IF THE RISE and twelve times as much as a fellow standards followed by all levels of sociglobal villager in China. The U.S.ety. To date, the light truck phenomeAND ADVANCE OF A China chasm illustrates a greater worldnon has been limited to North wide divide between energy “haves and America—where light trucks comprise CIVILIZATION COULD BE have-nots”: the richest fifth of humanity half of new vehicle production, or consumes 58 percent of the world’s about 8.2 million each year. But there is energy, the poorest fifth less than 4 perevidence that the “SUV standard” is REDUCED TO ITS KNACK cent. drifting overseas. In Western Europe, But the high-energy society that has the light truck share of total car proFOR USING UP ENERGY, emerged in America over the last 100 duction is 11 percent and expanding. years was not a technological inevitabiliSales of SUVs, meanwhile, are growing THEN A MERICA WOULD ty, historian David Nye argues in his at a rate four times faster than that of illuminating book Consuming Power: A the overall car market—nearly doubling BE THE P ERICLEAN Social History of American Energies from 300,000 in 1995 to 564,000 in (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998). 1999. This is about 4 percent of new A THENS OF OUR AGE . Nye “rejects this simple equivalence of vehicle registration (compared to 16 rising energy and cultural advance,” and percent in the United States.) While argues that several “American choices the European SUVs are smaller and based on energy abundance” were at work. more fuel-efficient than the North American monsters, they are a growing problem in a region that prides itself as Co n s u m p t i o n O ve r t a ke s Va l u e s the environmental vanguard. Other connected choices included the mechanization The implications for the now-developing world are of agriculture, the exodus of farms, the rise of the automoeven more troubling: light trucks account for a full third of bile, suburbanization, and the decline of central cities. total car production in Asia. Should industrializing societies Monster freeways, industrial tracts, and nuclear plants symmimic the American way of energy waste, it will be increasbolized raw efficiency, uniformity, and centralized power, ingly difficult to deal with problems like oil insecurity and Nye notes. But they also “were not in harmony with grassclimate instability. Yet influences like the rise of the SUV roots democracy, individualism, or a sense of social conclass are driving the standard-setter in the wrong direction. tract between all members of society”—not, in other In fact, the U.S. is now more dependent on oil than durwords, in harmony with what some might consider core ing the two oil shocks (56 versus 34 percent), and its carAmerican values. bon dioxide emissions continue to climb (more than 10 Yet the culture of energy consumption seemed natural percent above their levels a decade ago). to Americans because energy remained inexpensive. More How did the United States become the world’s largest accurately, it remained low-priced, with many of its costs— energy consumer in the first place? It is tempting to point air pollution, land impairment, water quality degradation, to an inevitable path of technological triumph: coal mines, climate destabilization—socialized and excluded from the oil fields, super-dams, and mega-power plants prevailing over less-fit rivals. This fits the common academic argucontinued on page 11

the fastest-growing source of climate-altering carbon emissions in the United States—no small feat in a country that still relies on coal for 57 percent of its electricity. Growing concern about automotive air pollution has motivated the EPA to issue new rules to cut nitrogen oxide emissions from car engines. The rules, to be phased in between 2004 and 2009, will require—for the first time—that cars and light trucks be subject to the same standards.

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n BUYING GREEN n

New Energy Ethic continued from page 2 market price. In the oil crises of the 1970s, it was the shortage of oil that seemed artificial—an anomaly that had been imported from overseas, was temporary, and would soon be overtaken again by the consumption culture. The problem, Nye suggests, was that few understood that the middle-class American way of life was the source of the problem. He repeats a remark that resonates today, from Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton in 1972: “Americans…have long been accustomed to abundance…That we no longer have the luxury of unbounded clean land, air, and water, nor of the fuels that we blindly depend upon to give us pleasures in life, is a concept difficult for our general public to grasp.” In answering his original question—how did America become the world’s largest consumer of energy over the last century?—Nye writes that “The explanation resides not in a single factor but in a confluence of cultural factors…Americans regarded energy as a commodity, and they regulated its exploitation and use as little as possible.” The 20th-century story of energy is indeed the legacy of the American frontier: treating resources as a commodity to be consumed with little regard for the consequences. But Americans’ energy-intensive lifestyles, and the U.S.-led global energy consumption of the 20th century—a ten-fold increase, with a quadrupling since 1950—cannot possibly be a sustainable model for the rest of the world in the 21st century. The question, then, is whether Americans can overcome their recent “belief in energy abundance” and their tendency to regard easy access to inexpensive energy as something of a constitutional right. History suggests this will not be easy: the frontier mentality dies hard, and has many vested interests that would like to see it continue. But it will be far easier to meet the globe’s expanding energy needs in coming years if sufficiency replaces profligacy as the new energy ethic. In the 21st century, we must recover a much older notion of energy as a resource to be valued, saved, and used to meet our needs in ways that do not draw down the natural inheritance of future generations. This will require a breakthrough not so much in science or technology as in values and lifestyles. Modest changes, such as owning smaller cars and homes, or driving less and cycling more, would still leave us with lifestyles that are luxurious by historical standards but are far more capable of being sustained. Just as one might today read with bemusement about earlier industrial societies that equated coal smoke with progress, students of late-20th-century history may one day

No Bed of Roses?

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pring is here again, and there’s nothing like a bouquet of fresh flowers to lift your spirits and brighten the home. Unfortunately, quite often the only thing pure about store-bought cut flowers is the spirit with which they are given. Flower growing is a profitable business—earning up to five times per acre what fruit crops bring in, both for the U.S. and international markets. But to keep flowers from being rejected during import or interstate shipping, growers often use banned and unregistered pesticides, as well as heavy loads of synthetic growth hormones and fertilizers, reports the World Resources Institute. Even less well known are the hazards to workers in the flower industry. Flower sprayers and handlers are often forced to re-enter greenhouses directly after a spraying, producing a myriad of health ailments. While 60 percent of America’s flowers are grown abroad—often in extremely unregulated conditions—domestic flowers pose risks too: A 1997 Environmental Working Group (EWG) study found that California-grown roses were contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides 1,000 times greater than those found in foods. And, according to EWG’s Richard Wiles, consumers “are now buying roses during a two-day period when workers would be required to wear protective gear when handling them.” Put the Green Back Into Your Flowers Fortunately, there are healthy and safe alternatives to pesticide-laden flowers. One is to buy local. Try frequenting farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and natural food stores for organic fresh bouquets. You can also opt to grow your own pesticide-free flowers, using a wide assortment of certified organic seeds and bulbs now available on the market. There are a number of companies that offer organic flower delivery. Here are some resources: DIAMOND ORGANICS Offers certified organic flower bouquets for delivery. PO Box 2159, Freedom, CA 95019 888-ORGANIC www.diamondorganics.com/flowers99.html SEEDS OF CHANGE Features over 100 varieties of organic flower seeds and distributes ECOBulbs—organically-grown flower bulbs. Also offers a free e-newsletter on organic gardening topics. 888-762-7333 www.seedsofchange.com

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New Energy Ethic continued from page 11 smile at the extent to which Americans, and many of its then-industrialized counterparts, fervently believed that more energy is better. How 20th-century! And how ironic, an especially careful student of this era might add, that even as it witnessed the breakup of the Soviet Union and proclaimed capitalism triumphant, the United States continued to cling to a Soviet-style energy ideology that focused narrowly on increasing consumption. This would prove particularly tragic in light of the accumulation of numerous studies showing that societies that focus less on absolute energy consumption and more on improving human welfare could meet development goals with much lower energy requirements. Russia in 1999, for example, had higher per capita energy use but far lower living standards than Japan, whose economic success of the 1970s and 1980s was greatly assisted by its “de-linking” of energy use and development. The Soviet analogy is instructive, because the energetic challenge Americans face is not unlike the political challenge confronting Russians a decade ago: that of creating a decentralized, demand-oriented system when a centralized, consumption-oriented economy has been the norm for three generations. Like the Soviet model, the fossil-fuel-based, high-energy system is losing authority as people become more aware of its negative social and environmental effects. And like the reform movements that swept Eastern Europe in 1989, the new energy system will need to be built from the bottom up, by the actions of millions actively choosing to create a cleaner, more efficient energy system. The idea of choice is important, for social history shows that people—and not machines—create new energy systems, and that these choices are ultimately based on the interaction of technologies and values. Those choices made in the 20th century were derived from realities of energy abundance. But those made in the 21st will be based more on realities of environmental constraint. Future generations will judge how well American society at the turn of the 21st century discarded the conspicuous energy consumption culture in favor of a new energy ethic. This is surely a heretical idea to many—and therefore one of which Veblen would be proud. When saving and using cleaner forms of energy becomes “a means of gaining reputability,” then we will have begun to learn his century-old history lesson.

FUN BOX

MORE FUN, LESS STUFF! Spring is in the air, and many of us are gearing up to plant summer vegetables and flowers. This year, add a new dynamic to your gardening by creating your own backyard wildlife sanctuary.

Cre at e a Backy a r d Wil d life S a nc t ua ry

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s cities sprawl to accommodate larger populations and more businesses, developments encroach on the habitats of native animals. Highways and strip malls replace fields and wooded areas once inhabited by raccoons, beavers, turtles, squirrels and a variety of birds. By planting a few bird- and butterfly- attracting flowers and building some homemade animal feeders, you can create a safe, welcoming environment for displaced animals. Summer-fruiting plants such as mulberry and honeysuckle attract catbirds, waxwings and robins. Like Simon and Garfunkel, butterflies love parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Squirrels and rabbits munch on wild plums and cherries. Be sure to plant species that are indigenous to your area—once established, native plants don’t require fertilizers, pesticides or water, so they’re low-maintenance and safe for the environment. You can also build feeders and shelters to attract critters. A small, circular hole in a dried-out gourd makes a great hiding spot for finches, swallows and wrens. Scrap wood can easily be turned into funky, creative bird feeders or bat houses. With a little paint and ingenuity, old ceramic pots or even old toilet bowls and bathroom sinks can become beautiful bird baths. Don’t forget to establish your sanctuary in a prominent location, such as outside a kitchen or living room window for optimal viewing delight. If you’re in an apartment, plant a window box full of purple bee balm to entice butterflies. Library books on indigenous animals can help you and your family learn to distinguish a nuthatch from a downy, a weasel from a mole. So, get outdoors and let the fun begin!

T i p s fo r Ge tti n g St a r t e d : National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Habitat program offers a free brochure, “Creating Habitat for Wildlife at Home, School, Work and in Communities,” which is packed with useful advice for beginners and resources for additional information. National Wildlife Federation, Backyard Habitat Program 8925 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22184-0001 Or check out their web site at www.nwf.org/habitats. The Wild Ones Handbook focuses on the importance of finding and planting native species and has tips on landscaping for wildlife. Call Helen Tsiapas at EPA, 312-886-7901 for more information, or read it online at: www.epa.gov/glnpo/greenacres/wildones.

Seth Dunn is a Research Associate with the Worldwatch Institute.

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