Many solutions to environmental issues rely on emission-heavy infrastructure. Solar panels often require gas to start and are built of toxic materials. Wind turbines are made out of concrete and last only around twenty years. Electric cars remove gas from your vehicle, but most US EV energy comes from natural gas and coal. Bioenergy relies on biomass, which, while regenerative, can’t match demands. There are enough trees in the US to fuel the country for one year. There is nothing renewable if we consume it faster than it can regenerate. Recycling often faces several levels of refinement and transfers before materials are ready to get back on the market. The emissions produced by shipments and processing may rival the effect on the environment caused by the production of new materials. The share of renewables as a percentage of total energy production may go up, but renewables can rarely close non-renewable energy production. The same is true with recycling and newly extracted production materials. It increases demand as much as it increases supply. It creates a feel-good market to compliment the unchanged dirty market. Even in environmental and zero waste policy, we fail to acknowledge externalities. So, why do environmental solutions create so many environmental problems?
The reason Environmentalism relies on non-sustainable infrastructure is it funds it. Environmentalists do not have the funds to lead on climate action. So they protested and worked in small groups on recycling and finding alternative energy sources. Today environmentalism is used by anyone who wants tax credits or public support. The Koch brothers are the largest recipients of clean energy subsidies, and big waste has the recycling market cornered. Big waste creates the conditions for recycling to become garbage- like single stream and high quantity recycling. They do everything to make recycling and trash seem similar. So when they are inevitably contaminated, the recycling is diverted to landfills. Recycling has the potential to be profitable in its own right, but big waste forces dysfunctional business models on it. The same is true regarding how renewables rely on nonrenewables. There was never a well-funded movement to achieve purely environmental goals or break free from the visions of billionaires.
We haven’t escaped greenhouse gasses because that’s what we know. Humans exhale carbon dioxide, and when we build accessories, so do they. Geologists have measured animal dominance over the planet from carbon sediment in rocks, and in recent history, most of it was not produced in our bodies. The more we assert ourselves in any capacity, the more carbon we emit. We create technology in the image of people. The only technology on earth that makes solar energy without greenhouse gas emissions is photosynthesis. If we found a way to utilize the environment for our energy needs, for example, through plant waste solar panels, we might have a better relationship with nature. We need to develop novel technologies and policies inspired by and respectful to nature to formulate the future of humanity’s relationship with the planet and the rest of life on earth. We must incorporate green principles in every level of our infrastructure, from our buildings, energy sources, and everyday commodities.
Wherever we look, we confront simulated solutions to our problems. Sustainable marketed products demand emission-heavy production. Recycling promises a circular flow of resources but relies on inefficient and wasteful systems. We deal with simulations because our economic models do not take externalities into account. We don’t consider the supply chain implications or the management structure. We trust the image and the short-term promise of sustainability and profit. But recycling creates the blueprint for practical environmental policy because it teaches us to value our resources. Using biomass from the yard trimmings for energy production is not as unsustainable as deforestation. If we tried to reuse the materials we use to construct solar panels and wind turbines, they would not have as large a carbon footprint. On the other hand, if we did not reuse the business model waste monopolies use to undermine recycling, we would have a cooler environment. If we did not reuse the profit model for environmental problems, we would not still be scrambling for solutions.
Sources:
“Single-Stream Recycling Doesn’t Work – Netanel Hutman.” Netanelhutman.com, 16 Aug. 2022, netanelhutman.com/single-stream-recycling-doesnt-work%ef%bf%bc/.
“Solar Cells Made from Plants?” Energydigital.com, 17 May 2020, energydigital.com/smart-energy/solar-cells-made-plants.
“Clues to Early Life on Earth.” Geol105b.sitehost.iu.edu, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279602116_Vestiges_of_a_Beginning_Clues_to_the_Emergent_Biosphere_Recorded_in_the_Oldest_Known_Sedimentary_Rocks
Planet of the Humans. Directed by Moore Micheal, 2019.