Amanda Little, author of this year’s iRead campus reading program selection Power Trip: America’s Love
Affair with Energy, visited Cumberland
University on
September 27, 2011 and gave a talk about the issues discussed in her book. Her goal is to make the case that the story
of energy in America
is the most exciting, important and hopeful story of our time . . . .” In her talk she addressed four
questions: What’s the role of energy in
our lives? How did we develop such an enormous appetite for fossil fuels? Why are we having such a hard time kicking
the habit? Where do we go from here – what are the most promising signs of
innovation?
Ms. Little began her presentation with an examination of her
home office and concluded “that there was virtually nothing . . . there that wasn’t there because of
fossil fuels.” The desk was made of
plastic, her keyboard was made from petrochemicals, the computer was powered by
coal plants and the walls were covered in oil-derived paint. Even her food, clothing, cosmetics and
medicines were refined from petroleum.
Ms. Little stated that “In a single day Americans consume, per capita,
nearly 75 percent more oil per day than the people of Japan, and more than
double the consumption of the people of Western Europe.” She went on to compare “our appetite for oil
to our appetite for food” and that “Our appetite for petroleum has spawned a
kind of obesity epidemic - one that’s at least twice as severe as our food
obesity epidemic – but without conspicuous symptoms . . . .” Our energy-lavish lifestyles are evidenced
by our high consumption of oil. Today 70 percent of Americans travel to work by
car and more than 60 percent of us never use public transportation and home
energy consumption is almost triple that of Japan.
Ms. Little explains that she” wanted to get to the bottom of
this problem, to understand how we as a nation [became] so thoroughly hooked on
fossil fuels.” Her book, Power Trip, was a journey in search of
an answer to this question. The book
chronicles her travels to a deep sea oil rig, Kansas
cornfields, the Pentagon, NASCAR speedways, New York City’s electrical grid, a plastic
surgery operating room. She also
investigated innovations in green technology such as solar energy, wind
turbines, electric cars, super crops, and green homes.
Prior to 1950 the United States was producing over 50
percent of the world’s oil, but the economic boom of post WWII created a
greater demand for more oil than U.S. wells could produce. The myth of our unlimited supply of oil was
perpetuated by film and TV shows such as Giant,
Dallas, the Beverly Hillbillies, and There
will be Blood.” We still function in
this myth even though 60 percent of all oil consumed in the U.S. is imported.
Throughout the 20th century it was considered
patriotic to consume energy and men, such as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison,
Eisenhower and FDR, led us to fossil-fuel dependence, yet they are considered
American heroes. “The quintessential
American lifestyle was, by definition, and energy-lavish lifestyle,” which is
still alive today in our culture with “NASCAR,
McMansions, monster trucks, and private jets.” The author also examined
the military’s use of oil. The Pentagon
distributes approximately 1.5 million gallons of fuel every day.
Today we have geopolitical constraints on our energy
supplies with grave environmental consequences. To satisfy our energy habit we
are quickly using up our land-based oil reserves and are increasing our
off-shore drilling. Oil companies
expect to expand off shore drilling within the next ten years and dramatically
increase the number of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Energy made America
a super power, but this source of strength is now a weakness. Ms. Little believes that our ingenuity will
prevail and that we can rebuild our energy landscape. This comeback of clean
green energy “will be the biggest job-creation engine of the next
century.” It is already happening. One example she gave was Wal-Mart which has
cut down on high fuel costs by selling locally grown fruits and
vegetables. “It has pledged to be
fossil-fuel-free, carbon neutral company by 2050.”
We can all become leaner by doing the following; use
efficient lighting, insulate our homes, use energy efficient appliances,
observe no meat days as growing grain for livestock takes fossil fuels. Grow your own foods and buy local produce,
recycle, drive less, keep tires inflated to get better gas mileage and
telecommute when possible. The author
advocates for labels to be placed on items that show how much energy was used
in its production. She states that part
of the reason we have trouble slimming down our energy lifestyles is that we
can’t easily measure our consumption.
Ms. Little discussed a South Park
episode which poked fun at environmentalists by declaring that “Prius drivers
are emitting toxic levels of smug.” The
environmental movement needs to be part of everyone’s concern; it is not just
for the elite. She described a visit
with a woman in New Orleans,
Melba Leggett, who lives in an energy efficient home which actually produces
electricity through solar cells and geothermal technology. Hybrid cars and
energy efficient homes are possible for ordinary people.
Ms. Little concluded her remarks with observations on the
environmental movement which has a new generation of investors creating green
technology jobs through innovations in wind power and solar energy. A new
mantra is replacing “Drill baby Drill,” with “Shine, baby, shine,” and “Spin,
baby, spin.”
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend!
