Module B1 Study Book - the Graduate School of the Environment

ecause it would expose overwhelming feelings of fear, shame or confusion.
There are many subtypes of denial, including projection (“I don’t have a
problem - you have the problem.”), rationalization (“I need consumerism
because of my crummy job / life / wife / parents etc.”), intellectualization
(keeping it on a detached, theoretical level), minimizing (sure I consume
here and there, but it’s not a problem”), and suppression (refusing to admit
the problem to conscious thought). T the ultimate irony lies in geographic
escapes (“I just feel so much better if I take a week out in Thailand”). As
long as we remain in denial about climate change, peak oil or the suffering
of the majority world we are free from the very painful feelings, and can lose
ourselves in our affluence.
Denial is not the only symptom of addiction. When the supply of the addicted
substance is restricted or removed, it is common for anti-social behaviour to
emerge on a collective or individual level. Nothing is more important than the
addiction itself. Everything is geared towards getting the dependence met,
and the deeper into addiction we go, the greater the selfishness. In the case
of powerful addictions, the addict will even break national or international
law in order to secure their supply. Consequently, addicts often hide their
behaviours from others or create smokescreen excuses to justify their antisocial
behaviour. At long last, following this year’s State of the Union Address
America and her over-developed allies now admit they are ‘addicted to oil’.
The recovery plan must not stop here however, the next step is to reduce the
usage rate and so curb the anti social behaviour.
We should also be very cautious of swapping one addiction for another.
Some technologies are very hard to kick once you pick up the habit. Britain
for example must maintain expensive nuclear facilities far into the future, if
it is to safely deal with its waste and decommissioning liabilities. Indeed, if
the Romans had used nuclear power, we would still need to be tending their
wastes, which I am sure we would be happy to do in their honour, but what
would have happened to it during the Dark Ages? If we take another nuclear
fix, lots of other countries will want a try. If we want to stem the flow, we
should quickly re-brand the UK as ‘Beyond Plutonium’.
Why is an oil addiction so hard to break?
Around 400 million years ago, the Earth’s atmosphere was rich in carbon
dioxide. The sun blazed down on this vast, fertile greenhouse. The abundant
carbon dioxide and resultant higher temperatures created an ideal hothouse.
A verdant mat of plants covered the single continent of Pangaea, soaking
up the sun, as did the surrounding oceans of single-celled algae. This went
on for millions of years. The vast surface area of the earth was turning the
sun’s energy into plant and animal matter, compressing and concentrating it
in carbon-rich black seams, hence the name Carboniferous period.
This 70 million year reserve of ancient sunlight lay slowly concentrating for
further eons until in 1859 oil was discovered in Pennsylvania USA. This
represents a critical moment in human history, for up to that point humanity
had been fed only by the annual sunlight falling on croplands (topped up
14 Lecture: Energy futures