“Fossil fuels help prevent sexual assault.”
Supposedly. According to the US Energy Secretary, and long time Texan Governor, Rick Perry.
The Texan had been on a visit in South Africa, and retold the story of a woman describing the sense of danger as soon as the lights were turned off, due to energy shortages. So, by cranking up the use of fossil fuels, lights would stay on, and this woman would be safer from sexual predators. Because monsters mostly come out at night. Mostly.
This is where I pause and let the story and statement sink in with you, dear reader. Just, roll it on your withered tongue for a moment. The very idea that fossil fuels, and the use thereof, will prevent sexual assault. Then, let’s take a look at the components here.
Rick Perry, a fourteen year veteran governor of Texas, a state that has proliferated fossil fuels since the year of ever. South Africa, a country that already derives some 87% of its power from fossil fuels (mainly coal), being referred to as safer if only it burnt more fossil fuels. And then we have that little gem once again, that the statement and story refers to a sense of safety. Not actual safety itself. And we’ve already discussed the problem with confusing the two.
So, already on the surface, we have a biased person, making an in-context irrelevant observation in favour of an unsubstantiated achievement. And thus, finally, we can get into the heart of the matter.
Riddle me this… How many of you set fire to your bathroom to kill a spider? How many of you cut off your foot so that you won’t stub your toe? How many presently still reading ever blow their brains out with a shotgun so that they’ll cure their migraine? No one? Really? Excellent. Then maybe you’ll also understand why it’s a bad idea to wreck your habitat to deal with societal problems.
Now, hold on. I’m not saying that societal issues aren’t important to talk about. Not important to fix. Sexual assault, domestic and otherwise, needs to become an obsolete behavioural pattern in the human race. I agree wholeheartedly with that. But when you propose that we should ruin our world to do it… Well, first off I’ll applaud your misanthropic gumption. Secondly, I’ll tell you that you’re an idiot.
Now, I want to make this absolutely clear: No subjective vindication, no demographic or ethnic injustice, is more important than our environmental concerns. The preservation of a healthy habitat (alternatively the execution of a successful exodus from a wasted world) is the single most important issue that our generation need concern ourselves with. Everything else should be subject to potentially taking a back seat until we solve the bigger riddle. For example, that includes (in no particular order of magnitude) sexual violence, gender-based socio-economical divides, racism or your precious retirement fund.
And yes, I realize that that sentiment will sound privileged. It doesn’t make it any less true. Because the fear you feel of sexual predators when walking home at night isn’t particularly worthwhile when you can’t breathe the air or grow non-toxic food. When the world is on fire, the waters are rising, the storms are coming, then the reliability of the street lights on your way from work will not be your main concern.
The restoration and suspension of a healthy environment, for all ecosystems, triumphs over all other issues. And anyone that tells you differently, that tries to lure you with the promise of snake-oil safety or comfort in lieu of sustainability, is not only a liar but an intellectual cancer, and is probably one of those aforementioned monsters that do not mind, but thrive, in the light.
/Sebastian Lindberg 7/11-2017
WastedWords 