Imagine if all of the electricity soaked up on 'standby' by the electrical goods that light up my house and yours at night, blinking, was stored or re-distributed or somehow put to good use.
Imagine if all of those pedals on exercise bikes in gyms actually re-generated power so that gyms 'broke even' in their electricty consumption.
Imagine if all of the kettles that are boiling right now only had just enough water in them and so used an optimal amount of electricity.
Imagine if all of the money sat in old people's bank accounts could be underwritten (properly) and then mobilised in the form of microloans in both the developing world and in underinvested areas in the UK.
Imagine if all of that cardboard and plastic that we fill our recycling bins with every day never got to our door, never got to the shop, was never created in the first place.
Imagine if every white van, lorry and taxi found a productive return trip for each outbound job.
Imagine if car-sharing was the norm and that the average number of passengers in a car was not one but two.
Imagine if every child in a neighbourhood was part of a toy-sharing scheme and rotated through a never-ending carousel of toys.
Imagine if all of this fat on my body was re-distributed to people that needed it (weird thought, I know).
Imagine all of those tickets going spare at events every night, every city, every country.
Imagine if we charged our ridiculously crappy mobile phone batteries by walking, and our laptops by tapping the keyboard.
When we started composting I thought nothing of it. Now by the end of the week there is a full builder's sized bucket of organic matter ready to go from our fridge and cupboards - mostly via our plates - into our garden. For that one bucket's worth: no rubbish truck capacity; no bin liner; no landfill dug. (It's still not good enough, but it's definitely one step better).
What if we could transfer similarly simple practices to similarly gigantic sources of abundant waste?
I am not talking about communism (I don't think).
I am talking about self-organising stuff, internet-enabled-marketplace stuff, helpful technology stuff.
I know these aren't revolutionary thoughts. But can you imagine the abundance of everything? Not tomorrow, but today? Can you imagine how much stuff there already is?
Great post... if only everyone thought like this!
Fortunately, a few people do. There are now a few gyms that at least power themselves from human energy! Although none, as far as I know, that put power into the grid (I'm sure they generate more than enough). Likewise, a few other things you mention are being done.
http://www.ecogeek.com is a great blog to read for these types of innovation (nothing to do with me, just happy to evangelise!)
Posted by: Rob Chant | December 23, 2008 at 00:36
A classic Will post. Thank you. Its why we all keep coming back.
No, you're not talking about communism, but you are talking about social initiatives, and without incentive there is no impetus in a free market for individuals or corporations to invest money, time or effort in such initiatives.
Self motivated individuals are following their own beliefs with personal initiatives such as recycling as you mention. But public and private organisations are largely tinkering around the edges, and view green as a marketing initiative.
Still, your post leaves me inspired. Thank you. Merry Christmas.
Posted by: Stephen Waddington | December 23, 2008 at 08:26
Lovely thoughts Will, nicely put. The more this way of thinking breaks out from the treehugger-ghetto (the stereotype, not the .com), the better. To me, the silver lining of the current economic grey cloud is that it gives people more of an incentive to reduce their consumption.
Posted by: Ade | December 23, 2008 at 11:02
Rob, Wadds, Ade: Thank you so much for your feedback. Glad it made sense to you too.
Ade - particularly agree with the breaking out of the 'hippy' ghetto, and the incentive provided by THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CLIMATE (TM).
Posted by: willmcinnes | December 28, 2008 at 19:26
I think it is rapidly leaving the hippy ghetto. But some things still need to change. The main one for me is probably how we *think* about abundance.
Your post is good because it is so clear - a moment of clarity about reality in a more general flow of thoughts of scarcity.
If we stand back for a second I think we can see that the prevalent way of looking at the world and talking and thinking about it is in the language of scarcity. This language and thinking is based on underlying assumptions that there is not enough to go around, and this leads to problems.
If we try asking ourselves the question: "is there enough (in my world)?" the honest answer is often no. But you are right the more accurate answer is probably yes.
Become aware of the thought and there's a chance of challenging and maybe changing it.
There's a thought for 1-Jan.
Posted by: Pete Burden | January 01, 2009 at 09:36
Hi Will,
A great post, the imagination is where the change begins. I'd love to reblog this post for Edenbee.com how would you feel about that?
Posted by: David Hayes | January 02, 2009 at 13:02
Hi David - of course, please do.
Posted by: Will McInnes | January 02, 2009 at 16:12
Nice one Will and happy new year
Posted by: Ged Carroll | January 07, 2009 at 20:45
Will - imho power distribution and storage are going to be the next game-changing technologies in our society. So much is restricted by battery life or having to run slices of metal under or over-ground, it underlies so many assumptions we make in our society.
I think it was Ian Banks who described the setting of his Culture novels as a society in which there was effectively infinite energy available....
Posted by: Tom Hume | January 16, 2009 at 16:47