Bok: The Wizard and the Prophet

Jeg fikk lest ferdig Charles C. Manns The Wizard and the Prophet i løpet av en fjelltur. Boka har vært diskutert flere steder på nettet, og jeg synes den levde opp til “hype’en”. Grovt sett skiller Mann mellom Trollmenn og Profeter:

Prophets look at the world as finite, and people as constrained by their environment. Wizards see possibilities as inexhaustible, and humans as wily managers of the planet. One views growth and development as the lot and blessing of our species; others regard stability and preservation as our future and our goal. Wizards regard Earth as a toolbox, its contents freely available for use; Prophets think of the natural world as embodying an overarching order that should not casually be disturbed.

Mann ser deretter på hvordan Trollmenn og Profeter tenker seg at fremtidens problemer kan løses.

Ett poeng som jeg ikke har bitt meg merke tidligere i men som kjennes veldig riktig er hvordan de fleste som pusher fornybar energi er Profeter, som jobber for en “bottom-up”-tilnærming til fremtidens energimarkeder:

Prophets see the mile-long stands of photovoltaic cells […] as inherently destructive to communities, natural and human. Industrial giantism is the problem, in their view, not the solution. […] [T]hey argue instead for smaller-scale, networked energy generation: rooftop photovoltaic panels, air-source heat pumps, biological fuel cells, solar air heating, methane generated by agricultural or municipal waste, and so on. […] Even in the best of circumstances, the process of replacing the present coal-and-gas grid with a new, renewable-energy grid—all the while keeping the old grid running—would be long, expensive, and risky even if it weren’t being sabotaged by the people who are supposed to support it. Insisting on using small-scale components to build in a world of 10 billion only multiplies the difficulty.