Renewable Energy: One of the Main Keys to Global Sustainability “The Sustainability Revolution.”

The August 28, 2009, New York Times article entitled, Illuminating the Future of Energy, states that within the next fifty years we will reach the peak of oil and gas production, and coal production will begin to dry up by the end of this century. Since we have used renewable energy sources such as windmills and watermills only a few centuries ago some scientists believe that reverting back to these energy sources could be very beneficial. Most scientists also concur that eliminating our dominant use of fossil fuels could substantially decrease the growing global concern of climate change and global sustainability.


The discussion of whether or not to convert to renewable energy resources such as windmills and solar energy tends to have sides on both extremes of the argument with virtually no grey area. One side believes and advocates that the possibilities and benefits from solar energy are endless. Their main point being that the earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than our entire global population consumes in one year. Although, their stance on acquiring energy from windmills is not as strong as their solar argument, these advocates feel that this option could also very well be feasible to supply energy on a global scale. The discord amongst the naysayers is that they feel that renewable energy would be much too expensive and completely inefficient.

Figure 1. Estimated Worldwide Renewable Energy Jobs: 2006

The October 20, 2009, New York Times article entitled, New Agency to Lead Global Energy Push, introduces the International Renewable Energy Agency or IRENA, which was established this year “to lead a global crusade for renewable energy development and sharing of technology between the developed and developing worlds.” This agency has experienced much growth in just a minute amount of time and now its operation incorporates 137 nations in its battle to push the world toward a new paradigm shift in energy. The shift in which they are incessantly pursuing to achieve is essentially a global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Today, the United States of America and the entire world is facing times of economic turmoil and it is paramount that the world tries to come together and fight back against global climate and sustainability issues that threaten the future way of life as we know it. Conservation is especially important now because the idea of conserving resources was lost back in the industrial revolution. As Thomas Jefferson once said “Every generation needs a revolution,” and there are many groups of people out their becoming intensively involved in the idea of “the Sustainability Revolution.” This global initiative was introduced to the world on March 20, 1987 by the Brudtland Commission who defined this initiative by saying that “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Continuing on with the path of the industrial revolution ideals would be horrific for the economy and also catastrophic to the overall health of our environment. Therefore a global commitment to transitioning to renewable energy would be a major boost to the sustainability revolution and global sustainability.

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-fXG4gdlDQ

Article Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/business/energy-environment/29iht-sustain.html

Article Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/global/21renirena.html

Graph Source: http://www.greencollarblog.org/images/renewable-energy-jobs-global-2006-lg.gif

Brundtland Commission Source: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mjkGlK_j-FkJ:www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/environmental_ethics