Skip to content
 
American Pie E-mail
Written by Eben Esterhuizen   
Tuesday, 18 September 2007

Is it fair that America, with 4% of the world’s population, uses 25% of global energy? As a South African, I don’t think so. I am excited about the prospect of economic growth in my home country, but I sometimes wonder where the energy will come from if America keeps unfairly extracting energy at the expense of everyone else.


Oscar Wilde once said that America is the only country to have gone from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Los Angeles, apart from the novelty of driving on the right side of the road, was the large number of SUVs on American roads. Because of all the pollution I couldn’t see the Hollywood sign from the rooftop of my downtown hotel. This was the pinnacle of environmental decadence.

Some foreign governments promote anti-American sentiment, eager to make Uncle Sam a scapegoat for their own shortcomings. As an example, many Muslims live in great poverty despite massive oil riches, and their governments will always try to shift the blame to America for being “unfair” and a “bully.”

I believe that the greatest challenge we face, as environmentalists, is anti-Americanism. Few governments have the resources to effectively deal with the challenges that come with climate change, and they will not hesitate to shift the blame to America for its past crimes when ice caps melt and entire countries are flooded.

President Bush said “if you’re not with us, you’re against us.” Remember Mr. Bush, as non-Americans, we are saying the same thing back to you. Mr. Bush, why didn’t you sign the Kyoto treaty? Why should we, as the developing world, follow the rules for reducing carbon emissions when you piss on them? Is this your new master plan to maintain American domination - by preventing the rest of the world access to the energy needed to catch up?

If we, as a species, are unable to reach an agreement for reducing carbon emissions and halting the damage to our planet, someone is going to take the blame. The hatred for America that inspired the 9/11 attacks will grow exponentially.

We have a shrinking “energy pie” to split up, and everyone wants the biggest slice. Countries will be willing to fight wars to get a bigger slice of the shrinking “energy pie.” If America wants to terminate anti-American sentiment, it should find a way to make the “energy pie” bigger by pioneering alternative energy technologies. By making the “energy pie” bigger, everyone gets a bigger slice when it is eventually divided. That is what superpowers do.

Tags

See All Tags

Alternative Energy  Eben Esterhuizen  Government  Opinions 

Comments (7)add
...
written by Arnaud , September 20, 2007
Why does the US uses 25% of the world energy?

Hmmm! Let me think. May be it's beacuse they generate 25% of the world GDP. Remind me, what does China generate with larger CO² emissions?

A piece of advice, leave smoggy ugly LA and go back to paradise in South Africa with its 100 murders a day, rampant AIDS, ...

And please keep in mind that Clinton a.k.a. "The Felon" had three years to get Kyoto through Congress. Never tried, never did. Congress did vote on it though: 95 against, 5 blank, 0 in favor.
...
written by Eben Esterhuizen , September 20, 2007
Hi Arnaud, thanks for your message

Yes, America produces 25% of global GDP. America is a superpower, and it has the power to dramatically change the world we live in. If it refuses to use its superpower status to make the world a better place, anti-American sentiment will grow.

Arnaud, this article is not about saving the planet by using solar energy, biofuels or windpower. It's about improving America's image. Would you argue that America's image abroad has improved in the last 5 years? I doubt it.

America is in the best position to advance energy technologies that will benefit other nations, i.e. America can increase the size of the "energy pie" so that everyone else can have a bigger slice.

Imagine a world where America invests billions of dollars of its own money to develop renewable energy sources. What if America gave this technology to China, for free, to help the Chinese "catch up" economically without destroying the environment? The benefits of such a move would end anti-American sentiment in China and perhaps lead to the normalization of an increasingly unstable relationship. Considering how closely the U.S. economy is connected to China, the benefits of such a move would far outweigh the costs.

Imagine a world where America can figure out a way for solar power to be cost effective. What if America provided this technology to Muslim fundamentalists, for free, when their oil revenues dry up in the future as oil reserves are depleted? In such a world, do you think the FBI would have to spy on American Muslims, destroying their civil liberties? Wasn't it Benjamin Franklin who said that "those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one"?

My home country, South Africa, is Africa's superpower. As South Africans we will have to be instrumental in any attempt to improve the lives of impoverished Africans. I hope I can one day take your piece of advice, leave smoggy ugly LA and go back home. I hope I can tell my country's future leaders to look to America for guidance, in the same way our anti-Apartheid movement looked towards your civil rights movement for inspiration in the past. I hope America can show my country's future leaders how a superpower can improve the world we live in.

...
written by Arnaud , September 24, 2007
Eben,
I appreciate you taking the time to answer my comment.
YET!
Let me turn around your argument. Why should 4% of the world population carry the responsibilities and duties of the other 96%? Under which principles, beyond well known communist recipes, should 4% pay for 96%? What you suggest goes far beyond solidarity.
For forty plus years, 220 millions Americans (= the US population in the early 80s) paid and cared for the defense of 320 millions Europeans (the “original” EU 12) against 250 millions soviets. Was that fair? Any reasons why the US tax payers had to do that?
Especially when you know that R.W. Reagan was despised by the Zeropean so-called elite and politicians; especially when you know that R.W. Reagan drew more people to demonstrate against him in the streets of Berlin and Germany when he gave his June 87 speech in front of the Berlin wall than Bush ever did in 2003; especially when you know that for as long as the cold war was going on, French and German polls constantly showed that the vast majority of the population of those two countries would rather stay on the side or side with the Soviets than help the US in case of an US – URSS show down…
I will not go through the incredibly long list of reproaches and finger pointing made towards the US since, literally, the first pilgrims left the Mayflower to set foot in Plymouth MA, but believe me the criticisms against the US did not start 5 years ago, did not start with this administration and won’t stop with it. Being liked, loved, or even cherished by failed nations, peoples, or countries should not be the driving force of US international policies.
In his State of the Union speech of 2004, President Bush announced a multi billion dollar spending plan to develop alternative energies. Where are the EU, Chinese, Russians, Indian, South American, and yes, African billions?
Allow me to also play John Lennon for a little while. Imagine…
Imagine a world where America puts a technology such as GPS to the service of the rest of the world? Imagine a world in which the US offers a technology such as Internet for every body to use? Imagine a world where America puts its huge wealth and power to free countries from crazy maniacs or nutty political ideologies? Imagine… wait. Wait. Didn’t all that already happen?
Imagine a world without America? Hmmm! That’s already less funny.
Now, imagine China making the proper decisions and lifting its people through democracy, the rule of law, and responsible growth. Imagine a world where we don’t have to give anything to Muslim fundamentalists because they have been eradicated. Imagine a world in which oil reach Middle East countries use their extraordinary wealth for putting up MIT like universities instead of building Mosques and Islamic universities throughout the globe. Imagine a world where Putin cares more about the well being of his people who are dying at age 57 than trying to reinstate a bully soviet like empire? Imagine…
Contrary to what you seem to think, I am not a US citizen, I do not even live in the US. I am French; I live and work in New Europe as defined by Rumsfeld. I do not like old Europe and would love to be in the US. One it will happen. That triggers once again this comment from me: if you do not like where you are, if you do not like the US, pack and go somewhere else. Go to a more perfect place: Lala Land.

“We can't impose freedom, but we can eliminate roadblocks to freedom, and to allow free societies to develop.”
President George W. Bush

...
written by Eben Esterhuizen , September 26, 2007
Hey Arnaud,

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you, I'm currently traveling and can't always check up on the site. I will only address the first part of your previous comment.

You said: "Why should 4% of the world population carry the responsibilities and duties of the other 96%? Under which principles, beyond well known communist recipes, should 4% pay for 96%?"

I don't know if you follow the financial markets, but recent events have demonstrated quite clearly that we live in a world that is becoming increasingly connected. I know it’s a cliche - if a butterfly flaps its wings in Beijing it could lead to a hurricane in another part of the world. The butterfly effect is a hallmark of globalization, and we can't ignore its influence on the capitalist system. In the late 90s a Russian debt default and Japanese credit crisis sent global stock markets into a tailspin, eventually leading to the collapse of a massive U.S. hedge fund called Long Term Capital Management. This year, a sub-prime credit crisis in the U.S. set off a sequence of events that almost caused a bank run on British mortgage lender Northern Rock. Being in France, you probably heard of the trouble at BNP Paribas. Just a few days ago Russia's top consumer lender, Russian Standard Bank, temporarily halted issuing cash loans because of credit market conditions.

With these examples in mind, would you agree with the notion that we live in a world that is becoming increasingly connected? If you are not convinced, here's another interesting fact that proves the point: About 40% of earnings in the S&P 500 come from overseas (check out the last paragraph in this piece: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&p...453&page=2).

My point is this: America's economy is heavily dependent on growth in foreign markets, and it is imperative that those markets remain stable so that investment can be encouraged. That is why, as you pointed out, American taxes were used to protect 320 million Europeans. By investing (i.e. CAPITALISM) into foreign countries America exposes itself to the growth potential in emerging economies. To drive my point home in the context of current market conditions: the consensus is emerging that global growth will need to remain strong if America is to avoid a recession in the coming months.

The bottom line: Access to energy is perhaps the most important requirement for economic growth. If America could pioneer development of cheaper, alternative energy technologies and share those technologies with emerging economies, we could see a renaissance of global growth. This is what I mean by “making the energy pie bigger”. Such a move would not only improve America's image, it would open the door to new investing opportunities for American multinationals.

Alternative energy could spark development and economic growth that could turn millions of starving African kids into video-game fanatics, opening up a massive new market for Microsoft's new "Halo 3" videogame. Doesn't that sound like capitalism to you?

I really don't care if you think I live in lala land, because I don't want to live in a world where America surround itself with an IRON CURTAIN, pretending that the rest of the world doesn't exist.

Have a nice day ;-)
...
written by Arnaud , September 27, 2007
Hi Eben,
Considering I left France 17 years ago and have lived and worked in six different countries in as many years, I am pretty amused to be lectured about globalization. In 1990, back when I left home to go international, I am not sure many even knew how to spell the word.
Oh my! I will not go through the utter stupidity of having 3% of US mortgages going belly up triggering stock exchanges throughout the world to lose solid double digits percentages in a few weeks. That the financial communities gets mega-supra anxious over the wavering 0.02% of the world total credit market (= 14% foreclosure of the subprime market = 3% of all US mortgages) speaks volume about how smart those people can be.
If throwing wealth ($ or otherwise) at the people was a solution, poverty in the US or in the EU welfare-rich environment would have been eradicated a long long time ago. If wealth was a solution, ultra-mega rich Saudi Arabia of the late 70s and early 80s (highest GDP per capita at the time) should now be a beacon of freedom, democracy, and development. If wealth… you got the point.
If 4% could make it for 96%, 87% of non poor Americans should have an easy task lifting the remaining 13% out of poverty! Ditto for Europe. You got the point.
The US can be an enabler. The US has been an enabler. The US will keep being an enabler. But, the US cannot do for other countries what they should do for themselves. And if they sometime do, the mass / size ratios have to be realistic. I.e. 220 million Americans, 350 million Zeropeans, 250 million soviets. 300 millions US citizens cannot carry 6 billion people.
That’s probably true 40% of S&P comes from abroad. First S&P is only a slice of the US economy; second most of these 40% most likely comes from the “civilized” world: Japan (ca. 12% of world GDP), EU (ca. 23% of world GDP), Australia/NZ (ca. 3% of world GDP). If useless Russia collapses again (and it will) who cares?
9/11 had bigger impacts than the collapse of the so called Russian economy.

The way do to it has been once demonstrated: 1. Get rid of the maniac (Berlin 1945), 2. Impose democracy, reconstruct and protect (EU 45-55), 3. Protect and let grow (EU 55-89), 4. Let live for the better or eventually the worse (EU post 89).
1.2003 get rid of the maniac,
2.2004 – on going impose democracy, reconstruct and protect…
Before sharing wealth with the rest of the entire world, some choices need to be made and priorities have to be set. Sharing useful technology with Muslim fanatics and other maniacs is not one of them.

I am always amazed at the world always asking for dollars (or equivalencies) from the US but never want to listen to them; “Yes we take your money but keep your advices to yourselves”. May be the rest of the world should think: “Hey, wait a minute, they might be very successful and better off for a reason. May be we should stop bitching at them and listen a bit.” Hmmm!
To be successful, capitalism requires democracy, rule of law, and human rights. Let’s start with that. Then we can move on with feel good / do good actions.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--hoping it will eat him last" Winston Churchill

Arnaud

PS: See you sometime in NYC for a beer from SABMiller

...
written by Eben Esterhuizen , September 27, 2007
Yeah, a beer from SABmiller sounds like a plan. Looks like we'll get along like a house on fire! Where in France do you live? Im probably going to Paris for the rugby world cup at the end of October...

And while we're on the topic of John Lennon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4
...
written by Arnaud , September 28, 2007
Eben,

READ my comments:"I live and work in New Europe as defined by Rumsfeld" and "Considering I left France 17 years ago".

I do not live in France. I have a home in western Austria, another one in Slovakia, and a girl friend in Berlin. Pick one of these places if you want to meet in Europe.

In 99, I was in Edinburg to watch the springboks play Scotland in Murrayfield and then I was in Paris to see them muder the Brits in the quarter final at le Stade de France. A great team indeed.
That same world cup, I was in Twickenham for France - All Blacks...

Anyway and nevertheless let me know if you go, I might pop up myself in France for a few games. May be the final?

All the best

Arnaud

David can give you all my personal data



Write comment

security image
Write the displayed characters


busy
Tag it:
YahooBuzz
Stumble
Facebook
Digg
Delicious
Technorati
YahooMyWeb
Digg
Hugg
Reddit
Spurl
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 19 September 2007 )
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]
 

Top

Members