A lot of people are feeling hopeless right now because unemployment, debt kabuki, and changing climates seem to portend doom.
Intimations of doom are common in any crisis. Read the literature from 1971, or 1935, or even 1863, and it seemed the whole world was coming to an end. To the muckrakers who created investigative journalism in the late 1890s, that doom had already come to pass.
But we always get through the crisis, and the reason is that each one is an opportunity too rich to resist. So it is in our time.
Some news from the front:
-
Renewable energy now represents 25% of global capacity, with the developing world leading the way. The paper, from an international consortium called REN21, notes for instance that Germany installed more solar power in 2010 than the whole world had in 2009.
-
A report from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany indicates that a shift to renewable energy improves both the job market and economic growth. Let's repeat that. A commitment to renewable energy actually improves economic growth and adds jobs.
-
Cloud computing is growing 22% per year in part because its energy efficient, a new Forrester Research report says. Not only does cloud maximize the value of servers and networking gear, but its pay-as-you-go business model encourages more efficient business behavior.
-
IPads and other portable devices, including laptop PCs, will be off-the-grid entirely due to a new generation of printed solar cells developed at MIT. The cells could even be used to add warmth to winter clothing. You could see products using the technology in just two years.
These changes are going on under the surface of the economy right now, and that's the way it often is. Economic changes don't result in headlines until long after implementation is underway.
Just as the Civil War years were followed by the technology revolution of the 1870s, the 1890s were followed by the mass manufacturing revolution of the early 1900s, the Depression gave birth to the Baby Boom Years, and the oil crisis yielded to the computer revolution, so it will be again.
