OP-ED: What Can’t Humans Do? Let’s Be Optimistic

by Lin Sabones

COMBATTING GLOBAL climate change requires a psychological approach. We must overcome functional fixedness which is a form of cognitive bias that limits one’s ability to see multiple uses to an object beyond its traditional one. Once we cross our perceived boundaries, we can experience the environmental, economic, social, and political benefits of a cleaner world.

Take renewable resources, for example. Human ingenuity has manipulated the earth by harnessing the sun, wind, and water to create energy. Compared to conventional resources, like coal and natural gas, renewable energy emits little to no global warming, improves public health and environmental quality, and is relatively inexhaustible.

But that’s just scratching the surface of the environmental benefits.

Economically, there are several incentives to invest in renewable energy: stable fuel prices thanks to the energy’s reliability; long-term saving from potential environmental damage; and, decreased reliance on foreign fuel imports. As these systems become more popular, their labor intensive procedures will provide more job opportunities, which will inevitably boost local and national economies, increasing average living standards and productivity. A review by the University of California-Berkeley found that in 2004, the biomass, wind, and solar energy industries generated nearly double the amount of jobs than the fossil fuel, coal, and natural gas markets combined. This is because renewable resource extractions requires a wide range of services like manufacturing, construction, and installation. In contrast, non-renewable resources primarily demand mining activity.

Socially speaking, the improved quality of life stemming from reduced air and water pollution, will gradually improve public health. Investing in clean energy will decrease the six criteria air pollutants-ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and lead. Related health risks such as premature mortality, asthma, respiratory disease, and heart failure, should also decline.

Environmentally friendly energy sources may also lead to greater political stability. The reduced reliance on imported foreign fuel has the potential to protect consumers from experiencing supply shortages and price shocks. Improved fuel and energy security may also lead to positive international relations since renewable resources are a public commons.

Renewable resources have revolutionized our understanding of our planet’s potential, but also ours. When confronting environmental challenges, it is critical we look past traditional limits because human ingenuity is infinite. Our abilities to adapt and control our surroundings will push us forward into a world of endless possibility.

Lin Sabones is a resident of New Buffalo, MI.