The Sixth Extinction and the Development of Cleantech

I had a good talk with my mother earlier today in which we discussed Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, a book that examines each of the five periods of geologic history when mass extinctions (large and rapid loss of plants and animals) occurred. Given the work’s title, the reader can see immediately that this is more than an academic curiosity; there is compelling reason to wonder whether or not humankind is in the process of causing the next big die-off.

Given that we’re living in a time that includes climate disruption and ocean acidification, and we’re already experiencing an accelerating loss of biodiversity, is it too late to change our irresponsible course vis-à-vis the reckless consumption of resources and our blasé approach to the development of cleantech?

Personally, I doubt it. My belief: we have a few decades to go before a point of no return, and I believe we’re rapidly approaching a tipping point, at which our civilization moves very quickly to cease its consumption of oil and coal—all driven primarily by the force of market economics. This, of course, is the point of my current book project, “Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose”).