Renewable Energy Fighting Terrorism
Some months ago, there was a piece of news about Tel Aviv University creating a “Supercenter” for renewable energy. For a moment I was surprised, as Israel seemed far from the most likely place where something like this would happen. But then I remembered Shimon Peres’ statement about developing alternative fuel and energy as a part of the war against terrorism and it all made sense, especially since he’s perfectly right.
The current situation not only provides income for some governments who finance terrorist activities, but also provides leverage for others who practice what I like to call “diplomatic terrorism”, Russia being the prime example. (Exactly what is “terrorism” and the even more subtle methods used by Western countries is a topic for another time.) The fact that the largest oil reserves are in areas which have always been so unstable and the largest natural gas reserves belong to a former superpower which hopes to regain that status certainly doesn’t help, but the situation would be bad regardless of where those reserves would be. Having the whole world depend on a few parts of it in order to function is a recipe for disaster.
A world economy is a nice idea in principle, but until we come up with a new version of human we can’t all depend on some. Even if those who rule the countries which become the main suppliers of those resources don’t initially plan to use them as leverage, others will replace them sooner or later, and those others might have other ideas entirely. That means that any commodity of vital importance should be produced locally. If that’s impossible, there should at least be a local alternative.
Looking at it from another perspective, it’s simply too risky to depend on transportation when it comes to something as vital as energy. Something might go wrong with the supply chain even if nobody tries to disrupt it on purpose, plus that there are inevitably some losses along the way. That increases costs and creates insecurity.
And I didn’t even mention the environmental aspect so far. From my point of view it’s the most important, but this post is not about that. I just want to point out that switching to renewable energy sources would be a good thing from all points of view. Those who aren’t too focused on the environment don’t even need to think of this aspect as such a move would also provide security, independence and even economic benefits.
Back to the matter at hand, it makes perfect sense for Israel to do something like this, they are in desperate need of security and stability. But such a difficult situation shouldn’t be required in order to take such a measure. I think all countries should follow suit and share the results of their research and preferably also share funds and resources in order to end the world’s addiction to fossil fuels as soon as possible. Each country could look at it as a matter of national security, because that’s exactly what it is.
I find it very interesting that the fear of terrorism is used as a means to preserve the current state of affairs when changing it would directly reduce the threat. On the other hand, reducing the perceived threat is not desirable for many who are currently in positions of authority, which means “the people” should wake up and start fighting for their own interests. People should understand that it’s as simple as that, switching to renewable energy benefits their long-term interests, period.
