Feeling green
[S]crew cleantech short-term. Give me a battery for my laptop and mobile phone which doesn’t need to be charged every day. Figure that problem out first before you even think of considering the Tesla Roadster ready for mass consumption. The same goes for any other new innovation regarding cleantech…
Don’t get me wrong, I myself am thinking about cleantech more and more every day, especially as an investor deciding where to place my bets…But I really dislike when the conversation becomes all visionary and people don’t even consider the basics before becoming all “innovative” on you.
So says Paul Jozefak (@pjozefak on Twitter), partner at a prestigious European venture capital firm and all-around good guy.
Gosh, who knew people - such as these would-be visionaries - were so emotionally wrapped up in the idea of being “green”? Oh, wait…
I’ve blogged before about how dubious I find the “sustainability” bandwagon, the anti-human motivations of some environmentalists, and how important it is for the very label “environmentalist” not to be ceded to socialists and authoritarians who simply want to impose their will and deny individual freedom. I stand by all that.
But I do still find it very creepy the way that so many people have adopted environmentalist doctrines as a new religion, right down to failing to employ critical thinking about what they are evangelizing. More often than not, I smile and nod and don’t challenge people on their more barking assumptions - anything for a quiet life - but the more I see how hellbent such individuals are on regulating away my ability to choose, the more I think it’s gloves-off time.
I suspect that, having relocated to the Bay Area, I will have AMPLE opportunity to see how gently but effectively I can push back against the fundamentalists…
Filed under: Life
The funny thing about S.F.: my last trip out, I was shocked at how much literature was laying around in my hotel room regarding remaining “green”. First off, tons of paper used to convey this message. Further, they ask me to not wash my sheets and towels every night as this would technically not be “green”. Yet, the deliver a newspaper to every damn room, every morning, whether you ask for it or not. How much paper is wasted on this process and how “un-green” is this? I so love when treehuggers contradict themselves with their own process.
Yes, and how about “green” products which are manufactured in Australia for sale in the US? Or which come in very small, individual packages for convenience? Or which are labeled with paper price tags, rather than being grouped together near a sign indicating the price?
What’s funny is that the people who take such pride in their “green” credentials are usually the sort who take equal pride in their questioning of corporate BS. Yet they don’t employ the same questioning when it comes to “green” products. (It must also be said that they usually get it wrong in general.)
Thing is, I think the point with this stuff is to take what works for you and leave the rest (”as with any religion,” I’d say if I was in the mood to provoke). But it’s something you have to question and think about, especially before getting self-righteous. I quite loved when Anya Hindmarch launched her “I am not a plastic bag” totes last year, soon countered by “I am not a pretentious twat” totes which sold out (tried to get one, to no avail).
For me the un-word for 2007 and 2008 is “carbon footprint”. Don’t get me started on how governments are making millions out of the whole environmental issue without actually thinking about it and more important investing into worthwhile projects.
It also bugs me when I see celebrities jumping on the whole “green” bandwagon but then jetting around the world in their own private jet. Or eating Kenya beans in their favourite restaurant in London.
Regarding the Tesla, do people realize tis going to cost over 100k + and right now driven the way its envisioned only has a range of twenty miles?
Even better is the Volt, pure vaporware that GM has already won awards for. And again will cost 50k+.
So , these green products will have zero impact for the majority of people. And how much worse for the environment are all those batteries.
Best way to be green, don’t buy anything, or buy used. Anything else is usually bowing sunshine out your 455.
Your self-righteous comment - I always notice people are all for conservation and sacrifice.
AS long as its the other guy doing it.
It seems there’s a green-fundamentalism, herd-mentality.
There also seems to be a red-x-show-we’re-good-samaritan-on-facebook mentality everytime there’s a natural disaster. I’m all for alleviating suffering, but issues are complex and simply becoming a “fan”of a cause, or giving $50 and putting up a widget about a global issues seems to carry a bit of narcissism.
Green lapels and red ribbons are great, but convenience and symbols need more more f/u to address issues as complex as Burma.
PS: Good luck w/ your Grater’s withdrawal!
I cannot but agree with the broad sentiment of this post.
On that Tesla car: I have to laugh. India, along with China, gets much slack for being increasingly resource-hogging. It would be fun to sell Tesla (which sounds like a Hindi word for basin, but I digress) in India where many cities experience a phenomenon called load-shedding, a euphemism which covers power cuts from 2 to 18 hours, at no pre-announced hours for no pre-announced duration. Yes that is 2 hours to 18 hours WITHOUT electricity in the Indian summer. It _is_ a reality for 90% of India’s population except those who buy generators that run on petrol or diesel and supply 24 hour power to run fridges, fans, airconditioners.
At some level, people at a basic level of living have less resource use and more ideas about reuse and recycle than those who do not _need_ to think.
Thank you Jackie! I too have secretly loathed the green-fundamentalists and their train of bandwagons. Half the time it’s just a buzzword to sell more product, or a conversational “in” for college freshmen to get laid. Green is the new black.
I miss the days of it being a nonpolitical nonconsumerist color.
I came across some more interesting facts about the Tesla via thetruthaboutcars.com.
If a newbie named Tesla says their high tech Roadster will go from zero to sixty in under four seconds, travel 250 miles between charges and recharge in three hours, I say show me the money…The words “unproven” and “claimed” were conspicuous by their absence…Transmission problems have forced the company to deep-six its sub-four second zero to sixty time. The 250-mile range is now 211 miles in “EPA Combined”- despite the fact that the EPA doesn’t have an electric vehicle mpg protocol. And no one– I repeat no one– has tested the Roadster’s batteries’ recharge time.
In truth, Tesla Motors is no more likely to produce and sell a viable, profitable, competitive, mass-market electric-powered sedan than General Motors…But that won’t stop them from raising tens of millions of dollars for their cushy offices and healthy salaries, and making a killing with an IPO.