Originally Posted by
cooker
The point of that article is that poor people and developing countries need access to energy to improve their lives and economies Fair enough. However since there is no unlimited source of clean energy, the only way that can happen without destroying the world is if we use less. Besides, where do Tisher and Levey say that energy has to go to highways and cars - the most inefficient way to move people?
Also, although it is published in Scientific American it is not a scientific article. It is an opinion piece by the head of a natural gas consulting company.
The plains Indians didn't acquire horses until the 18th century. I wonder of anyone thought maybe they shouldn't mess around with those animals or they'd destroy the world. The horse culture changed the Indian culture and if not for the Automotive culture there'd be a lot of horses*** to deal with today...
Since the buffalo herds moved seasonally great distances from place to place those who depended on them for their living must move also. The horse made this far easier and quicker. I know of few situations in history where the economy and culture of a society have been so dramatically transformed with such lightning speed by a similar empowerment. The romance and excitement of this colorful culture has captured the imagination of the Western World and it has become a favorite subject for books, paintings and movies.
The Indian acquisition of the horse reminds me of the somewhat analogous technological revolution in our society caused by the invention and ubiquitous spread of motor vehicles. The glory days of Indian horsemen lasted a little over a century. Given our rapid exhaustion of oil and gas reserves and our pollution of the environment, one wonders if the glory days of the motor vehicle will last much longer than that of the mounted Indian.