Veteran's Day Blog

"Jevon's Paradox" is a term that was originated by economist W. Stanley Jevons in The Coal Question. Jevon's wrote "It is a confusion of ideas to suppose that economical use of fuel is equivalent to diminished consumption." While Jevons lived in the late 1800's and was writing about coal consumption and efficiency, Jevon's Paradox still exists and can be easily applied to our society today. Jevon's Paradox, or as it commonly referred to- the Rebound Effect, seeks to explain that energy efficiency will lead to more investment in capital which could negate the conservation we are trying to achieve. Increasing efficiency will lead to more energy consumption for several reasons. One cause for higher energy consumption is that by being energy efficient people will have more money to put back into the economy, which they will because we live in a society where spending is the best thing an upstanding citizen can do. Yet another reason why efficiency is negated because while one person can be worried about their energy consumption, the same can't be said about everyone. Therefore, while some people will change their habits to consume less energy there will always be those who will not change their habits and negate the efforts of the aforementioned. One example of the rebound effect can be found in the way we eat. With the growing realization of the high cost of meat, some people might turn to vegetarianism or become pescatarians. While this would save us in terms of decreasing energy to raise and kill beef, transportation costs, and enviromental costs, it would increase the amount of seafood we consume. The oceans are already being exploited and "over-fished." Increasing the amount of shrimps, salmon, and other popular seafoods could likely result in near-extinction rates in those species. Another example of the rebound effect can be the rise of hybrid and/or electric cars. While these cars will certainly help lessen our carbon emissions, they will only result in more consumer spending. Hybrid cars are still much more expensive than traditional gas guzzling cars. An increase in their production might lessen the cost, yet the parts will remain expensive. Therefore, when the time comes for a new battery owners will find that it will be much more expensive than they thought. As Blake Alcott noted, "one person's doing without enables another to do."

Consumer spending is so emphasized in our culture mainly because it keeps the systems of power in control. As Dardozzi write, "the West has developed the technical prowness to repeatedly extend civilization's capacity to overstep the biophysical constraints of the environment, which has been the driving cause of the ecological crisis." Since the creation of the universe, organisms evolve to be better than their ancestors. The point being to live longer and reproduce, this point has been completely embraced by the human race. Humans want to live, everything they do is meant to better their lives and expand it. Reproducing is how humans keep their race alive. Thanks to the industrial and agricultural revolutions, humans have also emphasized another point- a class based social system. There are those who work for a living and those to have people working under them, making them richer. Those in control now seek only to stay in control. Dardozzi writes, "It is not without coincidence that the path out of Jevon's Paradox is also the same path out of the social and ecological crisis."

The BBC documentary "Century of the Self," is about how corporate America, run by those who seek to stay in control, has shaped our society today. Adam Curtis chronicles how our lifestyles have changed to be completely dependent on corporate America, we are worth as much as we can spend. The term "sea of selves" refers to our complete surrender to corporate America. Dardozzi writes, "our steadfast refusal to surrender illusions of freedom for the sake of the collective survival and well-being are conditioning us to fail." We have been conditioned to shop, shop, shop. Even in the face of a national tragedy, September 11th, our president encouraged us to shop. Unless we can learn to stray away from this corporate mentality, we will remain slaves to corporate America and continue to degrade our planet and actively engage in our demise.

Bailey writes that there are several aspects to the human persona. He writes that in order to have a successful dynamic in a community, organizational, and collective human setting we must have civic and divine elements at the core. These are social aspects of our personalities that allow us to successfully participate in society. The civic element refers to our "set of rights, obligations, and responsibilities that bind the collective to the individual and vice versa." Knowing that we all are subject to the same rules and punishment bond us, by having us all behave the same way, and connect us to the higher systems of control because we are collectively kept in check. The divine elements of the human persona refer to "the notion of something greater than one's self and that the activities of the collective are significant in relation to the world." This means that we have a sense of a greater power in place, in this case we can say that the greater power is the government, we are connected to it because we can elect our officials and trust that they will upkeep the rules we are subject to. Even though we are individuals, together we create a collective society and in order to maintain the harmony we must all adhere to the same rules or suffer the consequences.

I believe that Jeff Dardozzi's essay has hit the nail on the head. In terms of being ecologically efficient, this is a complicated term. He has illustrated how efficiency will only lead to increase spending in other sectors, or by others who are in effect "picking up the slack." Efficiency is a difficult thing to achieve because no matter how much we think we can diminish our ecological footprint, everything we do has a consequence. The rebound effect is scary to think about because it states that efficiency is not the answer, leaving us all wonder what it will actually take to save this planet.

I have one main reason for rationalizing why this blog was due on Veteran's Day. That reason is that after reading this article, after painting a gloomy picture for our fate, we are left to wonder what are our soldiers fighting for? Out there in the world, there are men and women who are offering their lives to defending this country. What are their ideals? What part of America are they defending? Are they defending the interests of those in control, are the defending the right of those in power to keep the masses under control? To keep the people shopping? To give them false hope with efficiency, knowing that in the end it is not a solution so much as a whole new problem? Or, are the fighting for the right of the masses to break free from the collective and away from the organisms in control? Are the fighting for the right of one person to stand up and push away from the mainstream solutions offered to us? We have to wonder what these dedicated men and women are overseas for. It would be a depressing thought to say they are risking their lives in vain.