ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND CIVILIZATION

Abstract

Energy played a key role in the development and evolution of human society. Modern civilization is especially dependent on energy and some of its most dinstinct characteristics, such as increase in world and urban population, energy consumption, environmental impact and climate change, societal complexity, affluence, and the gap between poor and rich peoples, are related to energy. It is argued, that the future of civilization will depend even more crucially on energy, and that neither the divergent need of society for energy, nor the ability of society to cope with climate change and world-wide poverty can be dealt with effectively, without abundant and “clean” energy. Energy production and use remain the key factors in understanding the impact of man on the environment; and world poverty is, in effect, energy poverty. Yet, the main sources of energy today – coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium – have serious environmental consequences and energy consumption is expected to continue growing, mainly as a result of the energy needs of the developing countries. The fundamental question, therefore, is how the enormous energy needs of the world can be effectively satisfied, without endangering further the health of the Earth.

Sustainable civilization requires sustainable development, and sustainable development needs sustainable energy sources. It is, thus, apparent that in the future civilization will depend not only on the total amount of energy humanity will have at its disposal, but perhaps more so on how that energy is distributed among the peoples of the world. The closer we come to the Earth’s energy resource limits, the more it will become apparent that access to energy will be considered a human right and a moral responsibility of civilization.