The Liberation of the Environment By: Jesse H. Ausubel Summary: Danny Colles Critique: Samuel Parker

What is Liberation?  The decoupling of goods and services from demands on planetary resources by using energy, land, water, and materials more efficiently.  Ausubel argues that present cultural conditions already favor this liberation.

Energy  The energy system is defined by two properties: 1) Freeing itself from carbon 2) Rising efficiency

Decarbonization  Carbon is in coal, oil, gas, and wood but we don’t use it for energy. We use the hydrogen.  Over the last two hundred years the world has been using less and less carbon.  The ratio of tons of carbon in the primary energy supply to units of energy produced decreases 0.3% each year. It is down 40% since  Benefits of hydrogen are that it can be produced from water and its combustion does not pollute.

Rising Energy Efficiency  Rising efficiency in the generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption of energy.  In the US since 1800, goods and services have cost 1% less energy each year to produce.  Ratio of theoretical minimum energy consumption to actual energy consumption is still only around 5%.

Energy Efficiency Continued Energy Efficiency Continued  In three hundred years the efficiency of engines increased form 1 to about 50% of theoretical limit. Fuel cells are expected to raise this to 70% in another fifty years.  Since the invention of the first lamp in 1879 to gallium arsenide diodes in the 1960’s, efficiency has greatly increased. Ausubel theorized that nightglasses that run on milliwatts of power may increase efficiencies even more.  Ausubel also theorizes magnetically levitated trains in low pressure tunnels that can travel at several thousand kilometers per hour.

Land  Agriculture has the most impact on the environment. In the US, 20% of the land is used for crops and another 25% is used for pasture.  Even with increasing population the amount of land used globally for agriculture has remained stable.  A shift toward vegetarian diets could roughly halve our need for land. This is not likely since humans naturally resist this sort of shift. Therefore we must depend on increased yield per area of land.

Increased Yield  Due to innovations in seeds, chemicals, and irrigation; US wheat yields have tripled since 1940 and corn fields have quintupled.  These rising yields save a lot of land from being used for crops and prevents the loss of biodiversity and other environmental problems.

Water  Water is often considered our most valuable natural resource. It is also one of the most wasted.  In the US, total per capita water withdrawals quadrupled between 1900 and However, since 1975 water use has been falling at an annual rate of 1.3%.  In the 1980’s wastewater made up 90% of US hazardous waste. With the invention and rising efficiency of wastewater purifiers, water use is being greatly reduced.

Dematerialization  Ausubel defines dematerialization as the decline in the weight of materials used to meet a given economic function.  Lowering the amount of materials we use preserves natural resources and reduces garbage.  Lumber, steel, lead, and copper are being used much less while plastic and aluminum are used more.  The problem with dematerialization is even though superior materials lower the amount used per unit of quantity, they also cause markets to grow and more units are produced. This offsets the benefit of minimized waste.  Recycling is an important part of decreasing waste. Since 1990 recycling has accounted for over half of the metals consumed in the US

Liberation from the Environment  Science and technology have been liberating us from our environment more and more. They allow us to protect our health and safety in the face of dangerous environmental conditions.  Typhoid and Cholera were contained by water filtration, chlorination and water/sewage treatment.  Air borne diseases were contained by replacing sweatshops with larger better ventilated workplaces and medical intervention.  Also, humans spend much less time outside than they used to. Fewer than 5% of people in industrialized nations work outdoors. Japan even has indoor ski-slopes and an indoor beach.  Due to advancements in medicine and other technologies, people are affected less and less by the changes in the natural environment in which they live.

Liberation of the Environment  In gaining the security we now have against environmental dangers, we have transformed the landscape around us. Now people have realized that they may have changed too much.  Ausubel claims that “Green is the new religion.” He believes that a “highly efficient hydrogen economy, landless agriculture, and industrial ecosystems in which waste virtually disappears,” will allow for “prosperous human populations to coexist with the whales and the lions and the eagles and all that underlie them.

The Liberation of the Environment By Jesse H. Ausubel Critique by Samuel Parker

Critique  Thesis/Main Point of the article  Strengths in the author’s arguments  Weaknesses in the arguments  Conclusion

Thesis  “The question is whether the technology that has extended our reach can now also liberate the environment from human impact – and perhaps even transform the environment for the better. My answer is that well-established trajectories, raising the efficiency with which people use energy, land, water, and materials, can cut pollution and leave much more soil unturned. What is more, present cultural conditions favor this movement.”

Strengths  Covers a relatively broad range of issues  Points out that there are forces other than environmental awareness that move nations toward better practices  Addresses differences between developed and developing nations

Weaknesses  Majority of arguments and statistics are loosely supported, if at all.  Generalizes trajectories and attitudes in the US and Europe – extending them to all nations.  Arguments build upon each other.

Conclusion  “A highly efficient hydrogen economy, landless agriculture, industrial ecosystems in which waste virtually disappears: over the coming century these can enable large, prosperous human populations to co-exist with the whales and the lions and the eagles and all that underlie them – if we are mentally prepared, which I believe we are. We have liberated ourselves from the environment. Now it is time to liberate the environment itself.”

The Liberation of the Environment By Jesse H. Ausubel Critique by Samuel Parker