Energy Consumption and Awareness
The idea of transcendentalism and energy consumption might not seem like to topics that could relate to each other, but they do because both of them rely on individuals even though most mass energy consumption is done by groups, groups are nothing without the individuals providing support. Energy consumption is becoming more and more of a problem because we now live in a time that everything is powered by some sort of energy the amount of people on the planet right now is greater than it ever has been therefore we are consuming more energy. Energy consumption is not a bad thing at all, actually it is a great thing and it means that we are doing more and more but the use of non-renewable energy sources is a bad thing because once they are used, they are gone and cannot be reused and sooner or later these non-renewable sources will be all used up.
The link between transcendentalism and energy consumption is the act of non-conformity because when someone decides that instead of choosing the normal conformed gas powered car, to choose a hybrid car that runs off of electricity or some other energy, they are practicing transcendentalism by not only not conforming to the usual ways of society but they are also practicing a certain respect for nature by using a less polluting option. The most wide scaled importance of energy consumption is that everyone uses energy; there is not a modern device in the world that does not use some force of energy to make it work, even we as humans use energy to function, and because of this, energy is one of the most important things in the modern world. Energy consumption is not just a topic that only environmentalist hippie-esque people have to worry about; the whole planet should have to pay some attention to the topic of energy consumption because it affects them in their everyday lives. Transcendentalist like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson would have both been advocates on change in forms of energy and not relying on one form because these men were nature lovers and had goals of reforming society. Society does not need to be reformed into an idea of consume no energy because it might become scarce and we could run out anytime but it does need to be reformed into an idea of not depending on just one source of energy but instead having a variation of energy sources to depend on for powering our everyday lives. Imagine if instead of having to fill up your car with a tank of gas for it to take you where you wanted to go, that you would just plug it in to a charging station and it would be able to do the job just as well if not better.
I am not one of those anti-oil people who believe that drilling for petroleum and crude oil is a terrible idea and that it will destroy the planet, but I do believe that solely relying on a black liquid found in the ground to power one of the most important creations of the modern world might not be the greatest of ideas. If everyone would stop conforming to the idea that gasoline powered engines are the only way to go and that any other hybrid form of engine is just a passing fad that will soon fade away, then more companies would invest in the creation of hybrid engines that would reduce energy consumption. We as humans are beginning to over consume on some forms of energy and actually take them for granted, instead of being more energy conscious and turning off a light that isn’t being used or unplugging a cell phone charger, we continue to waste the energy and act like it isn’t a big deal. Most electricity that is used in the modern American home is created by hydro-electric dams that work by pushing the water through which then turns a generator that then produces massive amounts of electricity which are then processed through power lines that go on for miles, but if a river was to run dry and electricity was no longer able to be produced for that region until an alternate form is created, how would we be able to cope with the inability to consume the energy that was once abundant. Energy consumption relies on the willingness of society to change because without society changing, Energy will never be treated as a commodity that could run out and people will continue to consume and dispose of it without ever really thinking about it.
The only way for people to change energy consumption is to advocate about it and to actually make the changes yourself so that others will see and might follow your example of energy consumption consciousness. I believe that a transcendentalist like Ralph Waldo Emerson would be a relentless advocate for energy consumption because of Emerson’s love of nature and his want to see society change for the better. Overall, to change energy consumption and dependency on non-renewable energy sources, different forms of clean and powerful energy need to be present and all of them should be used in order to prevent over consumption of one form of energy. To make a change in the world in terms of energy consumption, people must be willing to practice an idea of non-conformity to use energy sources that are not the social norm, like sunlight and other forms, and to also advocate an idea of energy consumption awareness so that people will begin to understand how much energy is actually used during everyday modern life. In the end, energy consumption is one of the most under thought of social problems due to the stigma that all sources of energy are unmatched in their size and will never run out, but the brutal actuality is that someday the modern forms of energy could run out and if so, the only way to prevail through that would be to already use a variety of energy sources.
