Sustainability, above all else, will become the future focus of our species. I say so with such certainty not because it is a guarantee, but because if it does not become our main focus, then our species will, in any case, doom itself. If no efforts are taken to become sustainable then no effort has been taken to insure our survival. We have an imperative for sustainability.
Renewable energy, not necessarily just renewable but more so sustainable due to its only required input being maintenance and nature. If we wish to continue economic growth as far into the future as possible, then we also have an imperative to provide enough energy to promote that growth. All that is needed to convert to a more sustainable economy is a conversion to more sustainable ways to fuel that economy. Just as it was monetarily wise to invest in oil a hundred years ago, it will be all that much wiser monetarily to invest in sustainable energy now a thousand years into the future. We may be running short on fossil fuels, but as long as the sun glows, the wind blows and rivers flow, we have an endless supply of sustainable energy sources. Investing in the harvest of those resources does not end with a brief capital gain, moreover in an endless capital supply. For, if the basis of an economy is the energy used to maintain it, then the basis of a sustainable economy is renewable energy to sustain it.
We have all heard of the detrimental effects of the energy sources used to make this country what it is. But, now that all of the facts have been laid on the table, it is time for us to become an example of how to sustain an economy without the limiting factors of the energy sources upon which this economy was built. I do not question the economic superiority of renewable energy as a whole, for renewable energy shows its superiority in longevity and ethics of considering the long term environmental costs. As most economists would argue, business would operate a lot smoother if it did not require time, energy and money to fix problems that came from lack of foresight in the past. Most businesses have a plan that goes out three, five or maybe even ten years in advance, however, when dealing with the business of sustainable energy, businesses could realistically plan over a hundred years out having to keep in mind only the environmental factors of supply, and disregard such dangerous projections as overhead in gas prices, EPA clean-up costs and human welfare factors. A company in renewable energy business would also have a considerably smaller amount of backtracking to deal with than companies dealing in more limited and detrimental energy supplies. In short, the superiority of renewable energy lies not only in its economical factors, but more so in its sustainability, longevity and environmental considerations.
In reading this, I hope you have understood why I think renewable energy is superior to the supplies we are presently dependant on. Thinking very long-term, I say that investing in renewable sources of energy supply would not alone be wise, but also altogether an imperative. I say so, with the deepest considerations for many future generations to come, the faster we can convert to more ethical energy production practices, the better off we will be in both the short and long term situations. As a student and a businessman as well as an environmentalist, I feel that the best investment is one that focuses on the longest possible gain and not necessarily one that focuses on the biggest gains possible. We can remove the factors of uncertainty by becoming sustainable, but we can not remove the factors of sustainability without becoming uncertain.
Trevor Plendl
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