192. For example, a path of productive development, which is more
creative and better directed, could correct the present disparity
between excessive technological investment in consumption and
insufficient investment in resolving urgent problems facing the human
family. It could generate intelligent and profitable ways of reusing,
revamping and recycling, and it could also improve the energy efficiency
of cities. Productive diversification offers the fullest possibilities
to human ingenuity to create and innovate, while at the same time
protecting the environment and creating more sources of employment. Such
creativity would be a worthy expression of our most noble human
qualities, for we would be striving intelligently, boldly and
responsibly to promote a sustainable and equitable development within
the context of a broader concept of quality of life. On the other hand,
to find ever new ways of despoiling nature, purely for the sake of new
consumer items and quick profit, would be, in human terms, less worthy
and creative, and more superficial.
Pope Francis vision is not based in pie in the sky ideas, it is already taking shape and successful.
In order, (click here) the largest concentrations of
green jobs were in China, Brazil, America, India, and Germany, with
other noteworthy employment numbers in Spain and Bangladesh. IRENA cites
these rankings as evidence of a regional clean energy economic shift
away from the traditional leaders in developed nations toward emerging
markets where energy poverty and growing demand must be addressed by
policymakers.
As with most things energy-related, China is the world’s clear leader
in green jobs, spurred largely by a boom in solar manufacturing and
installation. The country currently has over 2.6 million green jobs, and
13 gigawatts (GW) of new solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in 2013
combined with 64% of global PV module manufacturing capacity helped
employ 1.6 million workers last year – roughly a five-fold increase
compared to 2011.
Germany has out grown their work force as it takes on the challenge of tomorrow.
193. In any event, if in some cases sustainable development were to
involve new forms of growth, then in other cases, given the insatiable
and irresponsible growth produced over many decades, we need also to
think of containing growth by setting some reasonable limits and even
retracing our steps before it is too late. We know how unsustainable is
the behaviour of those who constantly consume and destroy, while others
are not yet able to live in a way worthy of their human dignity. That is
why the time has come to accept decreased growth in some parts of the
world, in order to provide resources for other places to experience
healthy growth. Benedict XVI has said that “technologically advanced
societies must be prepared to encourage more sober lifestyles, while
reducing their energy consumption and improving its efficiency”.[135]
The Rocky Mountains divides the electric grid of the USA.
... 7. America’s electric grid (click here) is
actually comprised of three smaller grids, called interconnections,
that move electricity around the country. The Eastern Interconnection
operates in states east of the Rocky Mountains, The Western
Interconnection covers the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountain states,
and the smallest -- the Texas Interconnected system -- covers most of
Texas, as displayed in the map below:...
The next time Republicans refuse to spend money on the USA infrastructure simply think about the expense to your energy bill caused by outdated and inefficient transmission lines and energy production plants. Better outcomes for USA energy is about local interest in solving the problems of today, that also insures tomorrow and our kids.
194. For new models of progress to arise, there is a need to change “models of global development”;[136]
this will entail a responsible reflection on “the meaning of the
economy and its goals with an eye to correcting its malfunctions and
misapplications”.[137]
It is not enough to balance, in the medium term, the protection of
nature with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with
progress. Halfway measures simply delay the inevitable disaster. Put
simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A
technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a
better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be
considered progress. Frequently, in fact, people’s quality of life
actually diminishes – by the deterioration of the environment, the low
quality of food or the depletion of resources – in the midst of economic
growth. In this context, talk of sustainable growth usually becomes a
way of distracting attention and offering excuses. It absorbs the
language and values of ecology into the categories of finance and
technocracy, and the social and environmental responsibility of
businesses often gets reduced to a series of marketing and
image-enhancing measures.
What happens when a product a company produces doesn't match the best interests of a country? Do the interest of the company come first or does the country move forward unafraid.
195. The principle of the maximization of profits, frequently
isolated from other considerations, reflects a misunderstanding of the
very concept of the economy. As long as production is increased, little
concern is given to whether it is at the cost of future resources or the
health of the environment; as long as the clearing of a forest
increases production, no one calculates the losses entailed in the
desertification of the land, the harm done to biodiversity or the
increased pollution. In a word, businesses profit by calculating and
paying only a fraction of the costs involved. Yet only when “the
economic and social costs of using up shared environmental resources are
recognized with transparency and fully borne by those who incur them,
not by other peoples or future generations”,[138]
can those actions be considered ethical. An instrumental way of
reasoning, which provides a purely static analysis of realities in the
service of present needs, is at work whether resources are allocated by
the market or by state central planning.
