Amory Lovins rocks on

Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, author of Natural Capitalism, and generally uninhibited thinker, was recently interviewed by Discover Magazine. The article, entitled The Energizer, gives a nice overview of Lovins' current thoughts on energy.

But the opening paragraph stands out also:

When I give talks about energy, the audience already knows about the problems. That's not what they've come to hear. So I don't talk about problems, only solutions. But after a while, during the question period, someone in the back will get up and give a long riff about all the bad things that are happening — most of which are basically true. There's only one way I've found to deal with that. After this person calms down, I gently ask whether feeling that way makes him more effective.

As René Dubos, the famous biologist, once said, "Despair is a sin."

This reminds me of the second Chinese definition of optimism I posted about previously. The one where you take full account of reality and decide to focus nonetheless on what you can do to help. Lovins doesn't deny any of the bad stuff. Yep, it's all happening.

But we aren't effective when we focus on that. And we do have a choice.

So I'll come out and say something that's been on my mind for a long time. Many liberals are simply part of the problem. I know dozens of blogs whose sole purpose is apparently to point out outrage after outrage. More and more examples of stupidity, more and more egregious lapses of ethics, more and more reasons why the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Yes, it's all happening. No need for denial. And yes, the first step in solving problems is recognize them and raise consciousness among those who are not aware.

But it's the first step. Not the 2700th step.