Well, I used to enjoy David Mackay's Hot Air Oscars. So it made me chuckle to see that the US has come up with a bigger and better equivalent: Official 2010 Snake Oil Awards for Public Deception. Perhaps not surprising that BP is a nominee.
In general I am a fan of Repower America, the organisation behind the awards. But I wonder if what the clean energy movement needs right now is Corporate Villains? Clearly some movements for social change have benefited from creating villains (e.g. anti-smoking), but others haven't needed to (e.g. road safety). Some in fact have seemed to hold back on the blame game, even when there was more of a case for advancing it (e.g. Civil Rights, Quit India).
So what do we think? Is clean energy hard to deliver because Bad People in Big Companies have conspired to hide the truth from us (as perhaps was the case with smoking)? Or is it because we have behavioural habits that are deeply engrained (like speeding and drink driving)? I believe the latter, therefore Snake Oil awards, though potentially amusing, will not help much.
No comments:
Post a Comment