A Quote by Ramez Naam
That, to me, is a kind of brilliant environmental ju-jitsu - using the energy of the market and the profit-motive to get businesses to invest in preserving and improving natural systems.
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"Ju" means being natural or in other words the way which is natural and in accords with the truth of the universe and the one that human beings have to follow. Also, "Ju" may mean anything reasonable, just and honorable, accordingly noble: namely the realization of Truth , Good and Beauty.
The (stock) market is there only as a reference point to see if anybody is offering to do anything foolish. When we invest in stocks, we invest in businesses.
I believe that the human motive to share is very powerful. The human motive to profit is also very powerful, and I think that the profit motive and the sharing motive are not exclusive.
When I look at the many energy-using sectors - such as businesses, households, electricity generators, the transportation sector - I see that the business sector is the one which uses the energy efficiency potential the highest, because they know that using energy more efficiently will also reduce their costs.
I definitely want to get into environmental science and environmental politics, learning a lot more and preserving what's left of the world. That's such a sacred circle to be in. I'd love to contribute to that.
I don't need any more press. I get enough when I work, but environmental causes is one place where you can get me to open my mouth. And put my foot in it if necessary. I think the only thing I do that gives me any bragging rights in terms of energy conservation is sailing. Just using wind power.
Better use of space, improving the insulation, getting more daylight into the buildings, reducing the energy consumption of the air conditioning and heating systems, making sure that the internal air quality is good, that we have increased natural ventilation opportunities in the mid seasons. You know these are some of the things we can do.
An hour and a half before games, I always eat fruit - a banana, an apple, and an orange - because I'm trying to get natural energy. You get natural sugars and natural energy from that.
You also have to get beyond that to dismantle the system of production for profit rather than production for use. That means dismantling at least large parts of market systems.
Ju jitsu is very Buddhist. All that we fear we hold close to ourselves to survive. So if you're drowning and you see a corpse floating by, hang on to it because it will rescue you.
In my worldview, time is energy that you can invest in things, and money is energy that you can invest. Time has significantly more leverage than money in terms of how much energy you get out of time.
Surveying the available alternative energy sources for criteria such as energy density, environmental impacts, reliance on depleting raw materials, intermittency versus constancy of supply, and the percentage of energy returned on the energy invested in energy production, none currently appears capable of perpetuating this kind of society.
I do a bit of Brazilian ju-jitsu when I can. I like a bit of that.
The great virtue of free enterprise is that it forces existing businesses to meet the test of the market continuously, to produce products that meet consumer demands at lowest cost, or else be driven from the market. It is a profit-and-loss system. Naturally, existing businesses generally prefer to keep out competitors in other ways. That is why the business community, despite its rhetoric, has so often been a major enemy of truly free enterprise.
Even if I had money to invest I wouldn't invest it in oil companies - - or their bankers, suppliers, customers ... really that means the whole stock market. I'm not opposed to divestment, but I think by itself it won't get very far. The demand is still there, the fossil fuel infrastructure is still there. Where I would like to see our political energy go is to stop ecocide on a local and bioregional level. Each new energy project involves horrible abuse of mountaintops, groundwater, forests, etc., because all the easy resources have already been extracted.
What we need to do together is to put in place the kind of - foster the kind of environment where businesses of all sizes - small, medium or large - want to invest, want to do the innovative things that our businesses here in America are known for doing, want to grow our economy and want to create the kind of jobs that will bring - reduce that unemployment rate.
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