The virtues of the past for the society of the future, by Roland Lehoucq

Human activities transforming matter into products and services, and each transformation requiringenergy, it seems logical that economic production, the pace of which is measured by gross domestic product (GDP) annual, is based on the power of the machines of the production system. A particular transformation, combustion, played a central role in the technical evolution of humanity: thanks to a thermal machine, part of the chemical energy of the fuel is converted into mechanical work.

Currently, 80% of the power of our machines, eighteen trillion watts worldwide, comes from fuels. fossils non-renewable, coal, oil, gas, the abundance and low cost of which played a decisive role in the economic growth of the second half of the twentieth^e century. Considering the disastrous climatic and environmental consequences of the use of fossil fuels – greenhouse gas emissions and pollution – the transition to a society totally free from these is vital for our future.

Ending glut to preserve our planet

The need for this transition is not primarily linked to the certainty that these fossil resources will eventually dry up. Of course, the illusion of an inexhaustible world persists because of technical improvements making it possible to exploit resources of less good quality but more abundant, but at a higher energy cost and with additional environmental degradation. Climate catastrophe in progress is rather a question of superabundance: in order not to transform our Planet into a furnace, we should leave in the basement at least half of the fossil fuels that are still there … In other words, for the first time in Its history, humanity must give up using sources of energy when it has spent its entire history stacking them on top of each other to increase its power.

Look at the past to better understand the future

But this transition cannot only concern energy. Indeed, if its consumption is the basis of the creation of wealth which punctuates the evolution of our societies, we must also ask the question of the origin of this consumption which does not exist. ex nihilo but is based on human wills, which themselves have political and economic determinants.

Thus the passage of muscular energies, wind turbine and hydraulicthermal energy during the XIX^e century is not entirely due to technical reasons, and is largely due to economic or political reasons. Although the unit of energy produced by a coal-fired steam engine costs more, is more polluting and more dangerous, the English textile manufacturers favor this route because it allows individualized and localized energy production in urban centers. where the workforce is abundant, which also favors the employers in the face of movements social. Subsequently, the coal industry in turn revealed its weakness: extraction and marketing depended on miners to whom their know-how and their autonomy provided the means to influence the economic system. In addition, the geographic concentration and character solid of material made it necessary to transport large quantities of energy by rail, making sabotage operations possible. It is thanks to this power that the miners and more broadly the European workers were able to improve their working conditions at the end of the 19th century.^e and at the beginning of the XX^e century. The oil industry was built among other things to reduce this power: oil is a liquid likely to be routed by pipelines and by boat, routes more difficult to block, making this industry less prone to social movements. In other words, the energy choices of the past have not only responded to technical rationality but also largely to political choices.

Likewise, the elimination of our consumption offossil fuels must be done by questioning the world we have inherited and by asking the question of the social and political transition that must accompany this suppression. If we want to keep control of our future, it is voluntarily that we must show moderation, recent confinements having given a fine example of reduction constrained by events, with its attendant annoyances, frustrations and misfortunes.

Between economic growth and environmental pressure

To postpone the moment to make this essential weaning fossil fuels, some argue that it is possible to ensure perpetual economic growth without degrading the environment. There are several reasons to doubt this. First, the easiest material and energy resources having already been exploited, new ones are therefore rarer and more expensive. Then, the improvement in energy efficiency is almost always offset by a rebound effect, that is to say by an increase in uses or a reallocation of the means saved to produce more.

Furthermore, technical progress does not always target the factors of production that most affect the environment and therefore does not necessarily reduce the pressure that he undergoes. And even if it is aimed right, a technical solution to an environmental problem can create or exacerbate others: thus the production of electric cars puts pressure on the production of lithium and copper. As for the potential of recycling, it is limited: current recycling rates for most materials are low, and recycling requires energy and “fresh” raw materials. Finally, the impact of services is very underestimated: a service economy is only possible if there is a material economy, which adds ecological pressure. Finally, the few countries, rich and consumers, where growth seems possible without (too) increasing environmental pressure have all outsourced a large part of their production, and the damage which go with it, towards poorer and low-consuming countries.

Knowing how to identify the superfluous and demonstrate ancient virtues

If succeeding in decoupling economic growth and pressure on the environment seems very difficult, identifying what is superfluous in order to give it up becomes essential to preserve the habitability of our Planet. This undoubtedly requires the adoption of indicators that are more relevant than GDP, but also the establishment of a society that is low in energy and materials, and therefore less powerful.

This necessary reduction in production and consumption concerns in particular the richest humans, but it is collectively that we will have to demonstrate ancient virtues: temperance, to give up the power that fossil fuels give us, justice, so that the weight of this renunciation is equitably distributed, prudence, because it will be necessary to make the right technical choices, but also political and social ones, and finally the strength of soul, to face the tests which lie ahead.