1. All energy requires energy to be extracted from the Earth. We have lived for the last decades ( our whole lifetimes) on the benefits of cheap oil (in terms of energy).
2. Fossil fuels are finite. We have reached the peak extraction of fossil fuels. All remaining fuels also demand more energy to extract them than the high concentrated fuel we have been living on.
3. High energy fuels are transformed into expensive goods and services. These goods and services are not likely to be available in such great quantities as energy sources decline.
4. Renewable energy sources require much more energy to produce than do the non-renewable ones. And solar and wind power require new infrastructure that will have to be supplied by fossil fuels. Further the technology for storing their energy when the sun doesn’t shine, and the wind doesn’t blow also requires new technology that will be supplied by non-renewable sources. Thus, the hullabaloo about making the US pollution free in ten, twenty or so years is based on an inadequate knowledge of energy. It takes more energy to use diffuse solar energy and concentrate it to a usable form than it does to use already concentrated energy (fossil fuels). Certainly, the saving is in the less pollution from the use of renewable sources of energy.
5. Unless we act extraordinarily fast, the pollution of energy use from any activity (CO2, pesticides, clear-field agriculture, etc.) will irreparably disrupt the Earth’s ecology and change the course of evolution.
6. Steady growth of the economy cannot persist. (Exponential growth does not permit it.) Modern Civilization will change, no matter what we want. The physics of energy do not permit it.
7. We must look beyond ameliorative measures (i.e.–conserve, preserve, recycle, electric cars, etc.). The necessary changes will have to be much more radical if the damage to the Earth’s ecology is be slowed.
8. Congress must immediately tax carbon at its source when it is extracted and when it enters the country.
9. Most of all: Our descendants need to find ways to live a happy life without massive amounts of goods and services. Many goods and services are accompanied by bads and disservices.)
10. If you want to look at bottom-up approaches, I urge you to look at the Post-Carbon Institutes website and the one of the Stockholm Resilience Center.