Miners and Farmers

I recently completed a solar energy “boot camp” in California. It covered topics ranging from the very technical to the philosophical. Some of the most interesting moments came during these philosophical moments, such as the time when the instructor likened us practitioners of solar technology as harvesters of the sun's energy.

Granted, we are not the end-all, be-all “green” solution to our energy needs, but we can satisfy a fair portion of human energy demand through a relatively benign way of tapping a small portion of the Sun's daily energy delivery.

Contrast this with the way that we currently obtain most of our energy, by digging it out of the ground and wreaking all the environmental damage that comes by way of mountaintop removals, oil spills, mercury pollution, CO2 emissions, toxic mine tailings and fly ash, and nuclear reactor wastes.

Oh, to have more energy farmers and fewer miners!