' I j 11......L.... ' l., l J '- j 1 1 1 • 1· 1 11 I 1 . rent stampede of wood fueled appliance buyers in such a way that the use of these alternative energy products is safer. Present marketing does not include durability standards. Safety testing is performed by a variety of agencies or laboratories using a multitude of sometimes ill-conceived standards. A positive direction toward greater pmduct durability, encouragement of safe installation, and promotion of extens~ve consumer education projects could be a positive, beneficial undertaking directed by the DOE. II ENERGY II The Politics of Energy, Barry Commoner, 101 pp., 1979, $4.95 from: Alfred A. Knopf 201 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 In this world of critical analysis, it is hardly unusual to hear anyone and ~ everyone commen't about the contemporary energy predicament. Politics and energy issues have become one and the same, reaching the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of all. But for one to offer a "solution" amongst the critical crowd is a true event. Dr. Barry Commoner, in The Politics of Energy, offers us all such a rarity. This book is a factual, realistic and semi-philosophical account of how the United States' perplexing energy situation (based on nonrenewable energy resources) has materialized, and how the U.S. can relinquish itself from this dangerous addiction (through a future society based on renewable energy resources). After presenting some energy related political rhetoric, Commoner goes on to prove that symbiotic (yet controvers::d) relationship between politics and economics. "All of the harmful consequences of the nonrenewability of the energy sources on which we now depend arc economic," fueling inflation, reducing the standard of living, hindering new industrial investments, and aggravating unemployment. "Here, then, is the real meaning of the nonrenewability of an energy resource. The problem is not that it will become totally depleted, but that it will become too costly to produce. We will exhaust not our oil but our ability to pay for it." Commoner's suggestion is to "switch from nonrenewable energy sources to renewable ones. This would eliminate the interactive link that drives the cost of nonrenewable sources exponentially upward, for if an energy source is renewable, producing it has no effect on the accessibility of further supplies." Commoner, advocating solar energy for this renewable energy system, puts out the following plan: 1. Energy sources to be related to the regional resources; 2. The energy using task to be supplied with the appropriate energy form; 3. The energy generation to be satisfied by a localized, decentralized technology; 4. Energy transmittance to be satisfied by the above three whenever feasible. Since all is possibl'e "in theory," Commoner goes on to piece these abstractions of the future into the realities of the present. The initial calling is for an increase in the production of methane, since it is completely interchangeable with a present fuel: natural gas. Methane also satisfies the most salient components in a healthy national energy system: it is a liquid fuel; after hydrogen processing, it can store initially produced electricity; it can be transferred and stored. Commoner, in The Politics of Energy, offers us the momentum and layout for the future solar transition. Being skeptical towards panaceas, I can still advocate and support this feasible, well thought-out plan. Knowledge and effective debate skills will be increased by all, after absorbing this book, amongst the critical crowd. - DW .. ~ L. - ... .:.... ► • ... r, ~ ...... ..: ~ - -- .. u ~ ,~ II.. . . . ... ... 1 - l _..., ... - __.[j ' l.,,il A Citizen's Party? Convinced that it'll take a lot more than words in books, Barry Commoner is now-heading up The Citizens Committee, a unique coalition of activists seeking to build a long term political party ("not a third party, for we reject the relevance of the two existing ones") around the crucial choices facing American voters in the coming years. It's an eclectic platform they're pulling together, bravely attempting to overcome all those old Left battlelines to suggest the building of a new American consensus based on a wide range of political convictions: public· control of energy industries and guaranteed jobs, housing and medical care; decentralized, renewable energy sources and community owned enterprises; military cutbacks and a halt to nuclear power; environmentalism and feminism; and more. If there is a clear adversary, its the large corporate interests which now dominate the economic landscape: "O,ur system today no more resembles free enterprise than a freeway resembles a dirt road . . . Beholden to no one but stockholders, beyond the control of most governments, protected by the myth that they are merely small business writ large, large corporations unaccountable to us increasingly shape our lives .. . a whole lifestyle - energy-intensive, ridden with cancer-causing pollution, fueled by advertising - has been given to us. It is a lifestyle we did not choose for ourselves ..." It's a quiet beginning, and an extremely ambitious goal, but here are the seeds of a Citizens Party of unique potential. What do RAIN readers think? Is there a place for it in our scheme of things? Let us know. -SA For more information contact: The Citizens Committee National Office 1737 DeSales St., N.W., No. 300 Washington, DC 20036
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz