Egoism Ascends Into Ecological Reality: Put It On The Board!
I’ve been reading the latest issue of Fast Company for the past couple of days. My blood is running better now. Such a damn good magazine. Tonight I read the most healing article - “A Mighty Wind: Texas Oil Tycoon Tackles Renewable Energy”
It’s an interview with T. Boone Pickens, a corporate tycoon of the old school. So brutally honest, rational, and to the point- I had little choice but to fall in love with the guy. The kind of American that scares the piss out of me on one hand, but who I also secretly adore.
In the interview, he comes off as the billionaire Granddad that wouldn’t give you a dime of your inheritance until you got off your ass and did something with your life. I’d be afraid to reveal to him the once-upon-an-America-Norman-Rockwell fantasies that he reminds me of, for fear he might squash them as “pathetic gestures of sentimentalism.”
What is inspiring about this Article is that you have a rational-capitalist-oil-man making clear decisions about business ventures (which are in alignment with ecological necessity):
How important is wind to America’s future energy needs?
The United States today runs on 987,000 megawatts, and the demand is going to increase 150,000 megawatts in the next 10 years — 15%. We could supply most of that with wind from the Great Plains, from Texas to North Dakota, but we’ve got to set up corridors to the West Coast and to the East Coast.
He’s a staunch republican making intelligent economic moves that hint towards a free-market that really is ecologically responsive.
You recently announced plans to build the world’s largest wind farm, in the panhandle. Is that about money or the environment?
Money! First thing, it’s about money. Of course, I’m also a good environmentalist. I can pass the saliva test. But I’m not going to go do a 4,000-megawatt wind farm for the environment first and money second. I’d rather go give money someplace else. You’re talking about $10 billion.
He’s making clear no-bullshit statements about the practical reality that confronts us:
I’m going to take action. Opponents say it’s going to cost so much money to address. And I say, well, hell, go ahead and spend it. I’d rather take a chance that I’m right than that I’m wrong. I don’t want to wait around until the house burns down ’til I decide whether it’s a serious fire or not.
I can’t express, the joy, laughter and hope I felt for my own confused American Psyche while reading his words. I hope to hell someone from the Ayn Rand Institute reads this article and maybe a light will go off in their dogmatic mind. The best moment by far in the interview was in regards to Capitol Hill in Washington:
The leadership is absolutely, totally pissy in Congress — a real conglomeration of fruitcakes. I mean pitiful people.
Pour yourself a Scotch, pull out a cigar and read the Article.
picture credit: (nz)dave