Beyond the Hype: Facing Reality With Green Energy and Life In Space
We all love feeling good about ourselves. Especially when we feel we are “right-ing” a wrong we made. … And what better way can we do this than spending billions of dollars to correct this wrong we created.
Especially after when we realize that wrong can and will:
- Destroy our lives and seriously hamper our happiness
- Render life difficult for our family and unborn offspring.
Marketers know this and harp on this “weakness” smartly in such a way that would create multimillion dollar industries literally out of nothing.
Here’s a reminder of how enormous this wrong is to understand why we’re so “gullible” in falling for any marketing gimmick.
Perhaps you can guess what 'this wrong' is all about even before I state it.
According to a cheat sheet by Wired, here are the most terrifying facts…
- Temperatures are breaking records around the world
- Arctic sea ice and glaciers are melting, fast
- Sea levels rose 19cm between 1900 and 2000.. Scary, uhn?
- Climate change will displace 250 million people by 2050
- Global flooding could triple by 2030
- More greenhouse gases are in our atmosphere than any time in human history
All this facts are caused mainly by a disturbing human “wrong”: Pollution
The Birth Of This Article AND My Increasing Distrust Of The Media
Several weeks ago, I was scouring the web as usual when I stumbled on an article by NYTimes talking about some recently discovered internal sugar industry documents that revealed that the industry paid scientists in the 1960s to downplay the link between sugar and heart diseases and instead put the blame on FAT.
Why is this important?
Researchers suggest that five decades of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease, including many of today’s dietary recommendations, may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry.
Including the very popular, HIGHLY HYPED LOW FAT DIET.
Interestingly, a few days later I saw another article that claimed a popular hype might not be that true…
Of Tesla and The Green Energy Hype – How Green are Battery Powered Auto-cars compared to their fossil fuels counterparts?
With the attendant need to control climate change, researchers over the years have posited several ways of reducing the effects of climate change. Sectors like transportation, power generation and industrial production have been examined and a commonly recommended solution has been energy efficiency.
This has led to near-crazy scramble in financing the development of renewable fuels… Despite the fact this has been justified by World Leaders as the silver bullet solution, recent stats show that not only is renewable energy lagging behind fossil fuel in term of cost efficiency, it has little or no advantage over non-renewable fuels in terms of energy efficiency.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the efficiency of solar (12 per cent) and wind (26 per cent) remains way below the efficiency notched up by conventional power plants, such as gas (42.9 per cent).
So rather than making us believe that fossil fuels are evil and renewable energy sources are the real deal, more funds should be pumped into research and development to ensure a better utilization of both resources – renewable and non-renewable..
The King Of Hype
While hype is generally seen as a negative term, iconic entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs have used to nicely it to their advantage. Of them, is Elon Musk. With his lofty, crazy ideas and vigorous defense of them, Musk has perfected the art of hype. While he has generally lived up to expectations, his aggressive marketing has led to a not so nice effect- Encouraging unrealistic expectations
Tesla Cars Are Not As Green As The Hype Portray
Apart from fears that the batteries used to power these cars aint as truly innovative as they would have us believe..
"There's been a lot of hype surrounding it, but all it is just a battery," says David Kelly, chief executive of Alberta-based solar energy firm SkyFire Energy.
"They've basically packaged up a bunch of lithium ion batteries with their battery management system and hung it on the wall."
There are also reports that Tesla Electric Cars ain’t as green as the marketing stories want to make us believe…. The feeling we have that we’re finally doing something good for the environment.
Tackling this belief is a press release by Devonshire Research Group… They argue that not only do Tesla cars produce as much emissions as traditional cars, but the price of the company’s shares is overvalued…..
Not only is “Tesla Motors” intellectual property not as unique as everyone is made to believe, Devonshire according to its research believes that:
Tesla's electric vehicle production has a heavier carbon footprint than traditional vehicles .....
This research aint downplaying the enormous contributions of Musk and Tesla in powering the alternative fuel industry, instead it’s trying to make the public better informed about the choices they are “forced” to make from the hype.
Yes! It’s agreed that electric cars release fewer emissions… With the Model S producing 4x less CO2 than gas-powered cars as reported by a Tesla spokesman..
However, other environmental damage done during the production process makes electric cars even more harmful than their traditional counterparts….
From Lithium and other rare metals that are used to ensure a light car…to….. Potential environmental damages that might arise from used batteries dump, Electric cars are certainly not livening up to the hype..
While the mass production of Electric cars are a great step in the right direction… One that’s has to be greatly encouraged… Why? Because further research by USC believe that EVs have the potential of having less overall environmental impact than fossil fuels powered cars…
However, we all need to understand that what you’re dreaming of is not perfect… And all products aint currently leaving up to the hype ….. They are not as green as you’re influenced to believe… and they certainly contribute their own fair share of emissions…..
Should We Really Aspire to Live Outside the Earth - In Space
“I can’t stand that people think we’re all going to live on Mars after we destroy our own planet. Even after we’ve made the Earth too hot and polluted for humans, it still won’t be as bad as Mars. At least there’s plenty of water here, and the atmosphere won’t make your head explode.” - a 12 year old.
Creating Hype with Lofty Ideas
Just like our natural guilt of degrading our planet is being used to fuel the eco-green hype ..pushing us to spend billions of dollars on products that can help get rid of that guilt…
The “whole Mars Trip” is fast becoming one too..
I strongly believe that the reason why the idea of living on Mars looks so cool to us is the fear/guilt we feel that we’ve ruined the planet and rendered earth unlivable for our generations yet unborn…
However, when we take a look at the reality, the hype fizzles away…
- Mars has almost no surface water;
- A toxic atmosphere that is too thin for humans to survive without pressure suits; at 95% carbon dioxide, our present earthly carbon dioxide rate of 0.01% is child’s play.
- Deadly solar radiation;
- Temperatures lower than Antarctica( average -56°F (-49°C)) compared to an average of -67°F (-55°C) on Mars
- Few to none of the natural resources that have been critical to human success on Earth.
The Hype Master Does It Again
Yesterday, at the 67th annual International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Elon Musk in his true fashion relays a doomsday event backing up his ambition to create a colonized Martian city.
Currently, getting involved in this fantasy according to Musk’s admittedly loose estimates, (using non-existent tech) would probably cost around $10 billion. But he believes we can get the cost down to say $200,000 if we inject proper funding (light bulb?) to this lofty idea.
Interestingly, someone also noticed this…
Elizabeth Lopatto from The Verge brilliantly pointed out this morning, the whole point of this today’s speech is to pique the interest of other monied space fanatics.
Earth has existed for millions of years before we exist and will exist far beyond our lives.
However, it’s awesome daydreaming of this near utopia….it’s what bestselling sci-fi novels and movies are made of….
(Thanks @pixielolz for creating this amazing art piece)
P. S
I love this guy – Elon Musk and I’ve read tons of information about him.. This Hype Strategy has helped him really create awesome stuff for humanity.... I just feel we need to question hypes when we see them.
It’s been quite a while I wrote a post save for SteemMag. I write every now and then on topics – (AI, Economics, Psychology and all things tech) - that pique my curiosity. And I'm glad to be back.
This article (oops.. after over 3 weeks of sitting on the original draft) is a collaboration with @pixielolz , an amazing artist whose art pieces are mind-blowing and captivating. DO check her out.
So what do you think?
Can we make a 100% green product? Stop Falling for the Marketer’s Hype? Will you like to live on Mars?
Would love to hear from you…
Sources
http://planetsave.com/2010/08/18/humans-cause-global-warming-10-indicators/
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-links-climate-change-public-health-risks
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/climate-change-cheat-sheet
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html
https://www.fortnightly.com/fortnightly/2010/04/beyond-green-hype?page=0%2C4
https://www.altushost.com/the-art-of-the-hype-6-lessons-learned-from-elon-musk/
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/dont-believe-the-eco-hype/17728#.V-EgAG-EDIU
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5609812-beyond-the-hype-is-the-tesla-home-powered-battery-worth-the-money-/
http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/-2108010.htm
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehicles/life-cycle-ev-emissions#.Vv0_OhIrKRt
https://www.wired.com/2016/03/teslas-electric-cars-might-not-green-think/
http://qz.com/536483/why-its-compeltely-ridiculous-to-think-that-humans-could-live-on-mars/
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/10199/20141111/life-beyond-earth-what-happens-once-we-find-it.htm
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/elon-musk-colonize-mars/
I read a while ago that 75% world electric energy is produced by coal and that electric car will shift from gasoline to coal, which is far worse. And we not gonna go to Mars, we can't reach even to the Moon.But I'm not scientist, politician or journalist, so how would I know. I better go back to my cave.
Hahaha.. Thats interesting. I wonder if you can get a link for that.. I would very much appreciate.
I love this and thank you for such a great post. Perhaps its all hyped up and at this time in humanity we do not have the technological advancement required to jumpstart an uninhabited planet, but every accomplishment does not come easy nor perfected without the trials and errors, in the words of Neil Armstrong, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". We as humans still have a lot of evolving to go through and even then will always have new ideas and dreams to conquer, too bad no one in this life will live long enough to experience it.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.. You're right. Despite our technological advancement, we still have a lot of growing up to do.
And its a shame we might not get to see all the incredible 25-50 years forecasts that are being made.
Wow!
Great article!
I am glad you decided to invest some time on your own article on top of the magazine. The magazine is really valuable but this is a treat.
I have SO much I could say on this post, many articles worth.
First off "Hype is a HUGE deal. Almost ALL advertising is either utilizing or trying to utilize hype. Even people marketing them selfs for a garage sale are trying to use hype.
We live in a world with a lot of misunderstanding, manipulation, propaganda, and just delusional understanding of how things REALLY work.
For example, "sustainability" is very important, yet for the most part "un comprehended" .
There are really very few things going on in this world that are sustainable. Its more like what is less horrible.
As you said its important we move in a direction of more sustainable but the tesla vehicle is not even close to sustainable.
An even more horrible example is the use of ethanol to add to petroleum. It is far more costly to grow food and make it into fuel that to just suck it out of the ground. It was a total scam as most things are, to divide and conquer, putting more money in elites pockets.
Most importantly in conclusion what I want to say is that we have more than enough of everything here, and if we were to simply live consciously and responsibly our planet would be thriving far more than it is now even with another 10 billion people.
I am already aware of the technologies and methods needed to be able to live as an abundant world society, yet the matrix is perpetuating unsustainable, lack based control mechanisms.
I live by the general predisposition of "question everything" this is especially important with any government, religion, or corporation~*~
Thanks bud. Great to have you drop by.. It was really refreshing getting to post an article again.
True. Before joining steemit, I would read tons of material on conversion tactics esp from copywriters. You're being sold on something for every single sentence you read on the net.
.... The ethanol idea is a bit crazy to me.. In a world where we have millions of people dying of hunger. We cant afford to waste food. Not even leftovers...
But then, the people who control the world economies are only concerned about profit
Yes~
In truth they are concerned about power and much of todays power is through wealth. Though controlling the food production is a huge power play swell and the whole ethanol thing is a way to influence both food control and wealth control!
DIABOLICAL!
I think it is essential for the long-term survival of the human race that we migrate off Earth eventually and start colonizing other planets. Until we do, the human race will remain vulnerable to extinction-level events like nuclear war or another asteroid on the scale of the one that killed the dinosaurs. But there's really no rush, this should be an ultra long-term multi-generational type goal, which probably will take centuries to realize. Trying to rush it and / or use it as an excuse to ignore pollution / climate change is incredibly irresponsible. Let's fix the problems we have here at home, and then more resources can be devoted to space exploration.
But I don't want to see space funding completely slashed. I love science fiction and the romanticized fantasies of living on other worlds & traveling around the universe. I want to see Mars exploration proceed but with realistic goals. Baby steps first. I'm very supportive of a manned mission to Mars sometime in the next decade or two. But not to start a colony. First we've got to get there, put people on the surface, and just see what it takes to do that. Something like the Moon landings to start off (and on a side note, it's an absolute shame that we haven't gotten around to sending people back to the Moon even).
If I live long enough to see a manned mission to Mars, I will die a happy man.
This! We're naturally curious and its so understandable when we devote lots of resources to explore the world around/beyond us... However, this shouldn't be at the detriment of destroying what we have now for what we might get in the future...
I however don't agree that we need to colonize other planets to achieve peace. Being human naturally means we're exposed to conflicts.. There are several other (and economically viable) means of reducing conflicts and maintaining peace. Besides, we're more exposed to planetary accidents when we leave our comfort zone - earth. And here's a toast to an additional 100 years to your current age ;)
One of the best post that I have read today, Good start for today. I am not sure that we will ever be able to make perfect 100% green product but we have achieved a lot in previous couple of years. Hope to see it growing. Thank you for sharing with us @infovore
Thanks for the compliment @funnyman . You're right. While we haven't made a perfect innovation yet, we've managed to produce really astounding feats that have greatly improved our lives...
To add - I think its worth noting that eco-greeb stuff was in the wrong kind of bubble previously with no real marketing solutions for public adoption. Stuff were too expensive and inefficient too. I think hypemaster Elon Musk is much needed for funding from government-based scientific research to push this forward. That said, the whole situation is still subpar with the required technological threshold to be truly eco-green and all. However, I believe that we're on the verge of an exponential uptake especially after 2028 when Moore's Law is indicating that AI nodes will finally surpass the neurons in the human brain, which could render multivariate engineering simulations and solutions much speedier and accurate..
all the hype over fossil fuel pollution and neglecting the excessive harm from factory farming....that's my pet peeve on this topic.
Finally a dcumentary about that hit the mainstream...Cowspiracy
Truth~*~
This! The corporate world has a nice way of diverting the public attention to what they think would benefit them.
Thank you for sharing this post!
It is a good combination between marketing and something people want : something new!
Where's the moonbase?
I was promised a MOONBASE!
hahaha.. Maybe we didn't get to the moon after all... I mean after several decades and considering our recent love for Mars.. You would think that with the high tech abilities we possess, landing another set of humans would be a done deal by now.. lol..
Well, I found this : http://www.space.com/7015-40-years-moon-landing-hard.html
The Old NASA no longer exists. The new NASA is just another gooberment agency.