Jack Black: Clean Energy Hero

“No more pollution…or ocean dumpage. FROM NOW ON WE WILL TRAVEL IN TUBES” -Jack Black

Jack Black, the modern-day musical genius, once said in response to criticism of his music, “I’m tired of all this nay-saying! Why don’t YOU create something!?” This mantra could be perfectly applied to the global energy economy.

Why aren’t we going full force to create some awesome, renewable, scalable solutions rather than blaming democrats for high gas prices, calling for more offshore oil drilling (hello!?), or whining about our ever-increasing emissions? It seems like we’re spending more time naysaying than pioneering the energy solutions we need to solve the energy/climate crisis.

Thankfully there is a growing light at the end of the oil-economy tunnel – and I needn’t look further than an article by Andrew Leonard in this week’s Salon to see it.

Follow the Carbon Leader

Did you hear that one about the Jesus cult drinking the kool-aid?  Or those little Scandinavian hamsters that launch themselves off cliffs en masse?  Psychologists aptly describe the social phenomenon of, well, stupid collective decisions, as “the Principle of Social Proof”.  PSP basically asserts that, in the absence of certainty, we look to others for correct behavior – this is especially relevant in groups.  So in the case of the lemming, every little rodent assumes their neighbor knows what’s going on, until… Splat!  It seems silly, but humans, and even environmentalists (who are categorically different than humans, clearly), are guilty of the same mind-numbing behavior.

Take carbon cap-and-trade and outright carbon regulations, for instance.