The idea by Ian Morris that culture and the kind of energy we consume have an intimate relationship struck me hard. And it makes sense. The basic philosophy behind any form of demand is established by its source of creation, that is, energy. In other words, the force of what makes everything possible, including those which Margaret Atwood mentions in her writing “It’s Not Climate Change, It’s everything change” like wood for fire, slaves, coal, and oil, establishes what we can do. So our lifestyle, art, and culture, which inevitably depend so heavily on what we consume and thus what we value, cannot escape being influenced in someway by the method of how we manage our energy production. And because our culture and art reflect what kind of energy we consume, maybe we can use them to change the way how we consume energy. Maybe Margaret Atwood wanted to demonstrate through her medium. She uses a digitalized platform instead of paper to get her point across–not only is it more ‘environmentally friendly’, saving some trees, or more visual and ‘fun to read’, but it also contains a more universal application and meaning. Anyone who has internet can read what she wrote, regardless of region, religion, ethnic background, or political preference. It seems to me that she is demonstrating the new culture that is emerging due to the transition towards clean, responsible, secure, and efficient energy: a sense of stewardship, as Barry Lord mentions, that is based on not an individual, but global sense of belonging and protection.
She links such idea of stewardship to our future. If no one changes, then comes picture 2, a world with lack of energy, a world of war. Our unsustainable economic development is basically losing the war to protect the quality of lives of those both in the present and in the future despite winning the battle to provide people overflowing amounts of goods for a good life–not to mention that those who never even had access to those goods are also suffering due to others’ practices. We know that picture 2 is more realistic than picture 1, a complete world with sustainable and clean energy powering our system, because people don’t like to change, and thus even deny the idea of climate change. But Atwood knows that we either change our system, or in a foreseeable future be changed by the disasters produced by it.
