Energy sources harbingers of mass culture

By Dan Bloom

Danny Bloom
Danny Bloom

CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –Barry Lord is a Canadian visionary, an independent scholar and the author of a very important book that came out last year titled “Art & Energy: How Culture Changes.” In his mid-70s now, he is at the top of his game and his book deserves a wide audience.

Known as a kind of modern-day Marshall McLuhanesque writer (and  public speaker), Lord’s tome was recently recommended as a must-read on novelist Margaret Atwood’s Twitter feed, and that is how I first heard of it.

The book is not about climate change per se, but it delves into how humans have evolved through the use of energy and their expressions of culture and art. It’s really a one-of-a-kind book, and wanting to know more, after reading it, I emailed the author and asked if he could tell me how the book connects to current concerns over climate change and global warming.

Generous with his time, Lord was kind enough to answer a few questions and agreed to sit down with this overseas San Diego Jewish World correspondent  to give his views on all this. While doing this interview, I also learned that the author’s wife, Gail Dexter, is Jewish.

“Gail and our company are currently directing design and construction of Canada’s first national monument to Holocaust survivors in Ottawa,” Lord told me. “Gail also just completed about 15 years’ work on planning, design and construction of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. And now she and I are working together on planning for a new Jewish Museum in Toronto.”

Now to the interview, which we conducted by email, from Taiwan to Toronto.

“Since the mastery of fire forward, we humans have changed energy sources due to necessity,” Lord told me.
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“So we changed from wood to coal because of deforestation. We changed from coal to oil and gas due to efficiency, cleanliness (comparative), ease of transport and reduction of infrastructure (no mines or railways needed).”

When asked if culture depends on our energy sources, Lord didn’t miss a beat, noting: “When we change, the cultural values of the new energy source become our root cultural values, since the culture depends on the energy source to exist. These are very basic cultural values of who we think we are — ourselves and each other.”

I wanted to know if the current worries over a possible ”Climapocalypse” in the distant future are worth taking seriously or are just nonsense.

Lord said that many questions still lie ahead but that he remains an optimist.

“Your question is whether we can make the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy in time,” he said. “The pressure to do so is clear — in our awareness of climate change. In the long run renewable energy will be much more efficient than fossil fuels, due to the negative impact on the climate of burning fossil fuels.”

Lord does have some worries, noting ”the key question is whether this long-run motivation is enough to stimulate us collectively to make the necessary transition in time. As you know, this is doubtful, especially since fracking has removed any issues of supply for at least several decades.”

Art & Energy published by the AAM Press, the publishing arm of the American Alliance of Museums,  focuses on cultural and energy issues.

“The key factor that my book points to is the cultural dimension. Oil and gas brought us the culture of consumption, which has been dominant since they replaced coal as the primary energy source globally in the 1960s and early 1970s,” he said.

”Renewable energy is bringing with it the culture of stewardship of the Earth and the body, which is still controversial,” Lord said. “The more that culture is strengthened, the more people will demand the transition to renewable energy and the two-way grid that makes it possible.”

So the so-called “energy debate” is really a conflict of cultures, according to Lord.

“Climate change deniers are committed to the values of the oil culture of consumption (or in some cases to the coal culture of production); their identity (as consumers) is threatened by the challenge of becoming stewards of the land or of the body,” he told San Diego Jewish World.

“So we can hasten the replacement of oil and gas by renewable energy if we champion the culture of stewardship, which is still at a very early stage. It’s a struggle,” he said. “No guarantees. But I’m optimistic because it’s ultimately driven by necessity.”

It’s an interesting view of where we are today and where we are going: how energy use and culture intersect. Lord is an original.|

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Bloom, based in Taiwan, is an inveterate web surfer. Your comment may be sent to dan.bloom@sdjewishworld.com, or posted on this website, provided that the rules below are observed.

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