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How Do I Act Sustainably? - Example:
Solar Energy
Our civilisation is based on raw materials as it always has been - above all on oil, coal and natural gas - which do not regenerate and one day will be exhausted. In addition to this, the combustion of these raw materials contributes to a climate change (see Basic Course 4).
It goes without saying that this stands in diametrical contrast to the basic concept of sustainability. Winning sustainable energy uses renewable energies. Wind, water and above solar energy stand for a transformation towards sustainable development, although this is still a long way away from solving all the problems relating to this. The following text excerpt from Ulrich Grober sketches out the vision of a solar age.
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The Vision of a Solar Age
"The concept was brought into discussion in the nineties. The economic and ecological determining factors for the survival of mankind in the face of the threatening climate catastrophe stand at the centre of this discussion. The level of life-styles and cultures, i.e. aesthetic, ethical and spiritual dimensions in the transformation point towards sustainability mostly remaining blended out. Only small, relatively anonymous circles make a topic of these aspects. The Toblacher Discussions became a node in this network between 1985 and 1999.
The highly noted discussion circle, particularly in Germany and Italy, is directing its focus increasingly towards the technical shaping of the ecological turnaround towards the cultural dimension of sustainability. In 1992, during the year in which the earth summit took place in Rio, the initiator of the Toblacher Discussions, the South Tirol artist, sociologist and mountaineer Hans Glauber, formulated the coordinates of this new model of prosperity. 'slower, less, better, more beautiful'. The attractiveness of the disposition towards "quicker, higher, further, more" becomes serious in spite of the destructive development of civilisation. He does not underestimate the tenacious power of stability and security promised by the paradigm of growth. He does not fail to recognise the aesthetic fascination and the promise of happiness of the consumer world. In a public competitive fight for the two models, the new draft needs to increase its attractiveness and prove itself to be 'simply more beautiful'.
'The vision is one of a solar age, an age of a comprehensive new culture of sustainability'. The fossil-nuclear age merely represents a brief episode in the history of mankind. He circumnavigates the epoch from the beginning of industrialisation to the exhaustion of fossil resources at the latest. Before mankind lived from the sun alone. Afterwards he will again live only from the sun. However the second solar age allows a life at a much higher civilisationary level. Thanks to new technologies, and above all through the potential of generating electricity with the sun, it will become possible to use the sun's energy in a much more flexible and effective manner.
Civilisation will become more decentralised, more democratic and more just. Because in contrast to oil, other fossils and nuclear fuels, the ownership of which is concentrated in few hands, the sun is there for everyone. We do not own the sun. We merely have access to it. Over and above this, the sun as an energy source has the advantage that it is available in massive amounts where poverty rules. The utopia of just development is getting close enough to touch.
The new draft for civilisation places emphasis on a new balance of material and immaterial goods, on a comprehensive quality of life instead of one-sided prosperity though goods. 'The economy of the good life is made up of a combination of measured consumerism and immaterial goods compatible to nature (Toblach Theses 1997). The solar age allows for a civilisation that in essence is lighter in resources. This is based on a new way of producing and consuming. It recognises the importance of accepting boundaries creatively. It transforms the confrontation with the quantitative limitation into the concept and searches for the potential for powerful, continual growth in the field of immaterial goods and values. 'The function of material goods fundamentally lies in their making it easier for us to produce immaterial and common goods.' (Gerhard Scherhorn, Toblach Discussions 1997). The limitation becomes a resource in itself. What applies is to get the maximum out it within the bounds of these limitations. An aesthetic of the right measure develops.
'Beauty is also a means of life' (Toblach Theses 1998). It is a basic need. Life is not full without it. A commitment to the culture of sustainability originates out of the experience of damaged beauty, i.e. spoiled landscapes and urban tristness, the flip-side of the coin to urban mass production. It evolves through the careful use of resources. It accentuates local singularity and tradition just as it does natural and cultural diversity. The enjoyment of local foodstuffs, the sensual experience of nature, the attractiveness of good design and architecture means finding joy in life.
A European Dream?
Despite the opinion polls, which designate a high level of sympathy to solar energy, and despite several success stories in the attempt to work out sustainable solutions and give them a 'place in life' - one cannot speak of a large mobilisation towards a transition to a solar age. In actual fact, a unique, poor and paradox situation reigns: At the moment where it dawns on us in general that we have lived beyond our means and have to suffice with less in future, the concept of sustainability appears to lose its influence. This is a strategy of conscious reaction at heart. It could have the potential for opening up practicable ways out in current circles for exactly this reason. Despite this, the opinion rules supreme that sustainability would initially be accomplishable via a 'solid' growth in the economy. Instead of finding to the courage to have less, politics and society is fearfully placing emphasis on the apparently illusionary concept of more.
It is a clever idea to place sustainability at the centre of a 'European dream' in this situation. This surprising attempt is exactly what the American author Jeremy Rifkin makes. Initially he diagnoses the 'slow death of the American dream' and the 'universalisation of the European dream'. And where is the difference? 'The European dream places community relations above individual autonomy, cultural diversity above assimilation, quality of life above the accumulation of wealth, sustainable development above unlimited material growth' (p. 9). In the 21st Century, according to Rifkin, the attractiveness of a model which places the main emphasis on individual freedom, and which, in addition, is primarily understood as the right to unhindered access to resources and the unlimited accumulation of private wealth, will fade away. He contrast the American dream to the new European dream. The features of this are 'quality of life', reciprocal respect for cultures, a sustainable relationship to nature and peace with our common man.'
With the refusal to accept traditional power politics and primate economic interests and with a decisive turn towards the principle of prevention and a culture of empathy, the Europeans would have learnt the lessons from the catastrophes of their history and the ecological consequences of their methods of production. As the 'quiet superpower' it calmly turned its attention towards the future in a globalised world in the 21st Century. 'Der European dream is the silver lining in the cloud hanging over the head of a plagued world. It entices us into a new age of inclusiveness, diversity, quality of life, playful evolvement, sustainability, universal human rights and the right of nature and peace on earth. We Americans', concludes Rifkin, 'have always said that it is worth dying for the American dream. Well, it is worth living for the European one (p. 411)."
[Source: Ulrich Grober, "Das gute Leben neu denken. Kulturelle Ressourcen für ein solares Zeitalter; (Giving the Good Life a New Face. Cultural Resources for a Solar Age); in: "Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte" 37/2004, p. 26-27 and p. 3,
Online Version]
[The book quoted from is:
Jeremy Rifkin, "Der Europäische Traum. Die Vision einer leisen Supermacht" (The European Dream, The Vision of a Quiet Superpower), Frankfurt/Main - New York 2004]
[Author: Ragnar Müller]
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