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2022 | Book

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Human Awareness, Energy and Environmental Attitudes

Authors: Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book raises awareness about environmental issues that result from energy production, extraction and conversion, and examines the attitudes people have about these issues. It discusses societal and educational relations associated with energy and environmental issues, focusing on philosophical, sociological and psychological views, and provides an analysis of how the individual and the society perceive, process and analyze the information on this subject. The authors present the concept of environmentally conscious engineering, discussing various forms of energy extraction and production, and detail alternative, under-researched and unaffordable solutions, such as nuclear fusion and artificial photosynthesis. The book also touches on topics such as the storage of energy and greenhouse gases, recycling and reuse of energy waste, and energy saving and efficiency. The book will be of interest to students and researchers of environmentally conscious engineering, energy use, and human dimensions of ecology and the environment, as well as NGOs, policy makers, and environmental activists.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
The first chapter points out current issues associated with energy extraction and explores human attitudes toward the consequences this has on the environment. Environmental problems directly related to energy production and consumption include air pollution, climate change, water pollution, thermal pollution, and solid waste disposal. The chapter begins with three famous quotes and draws on the ideas expressed by these historical personalities:
Lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit (Plautus).
Homo, sacra res homini (Seneca).
Before the Law: ‘No,’ said the priest, ‘you don’t need to accept everything as true; you only have to accept it as necessary.’ ‘Depressing view,’ said K. ‘The lie made into the rule of the world’ (Kafka, The Trial).
A man doesn’t need an outside enemy; he’s the greatest threat to himself. But he’s not just a threat to himself; he’s a threat to everything around him as well. No living thing on Earth destroys it more than it takes for its existence, except for human. And for that, he’s willing to do anything, deceive, and kill, to destroy and to justify what it does with a backlash and a lie.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 2. A Philosophical View
Abstract
The second chapter, A Philosophical View, discusses philosophical and societal relations associated with energy and environmental issues. This chapter is divided into separate sections focusing on the philosophical, sociological, and psychological views and providing an analysis of how the individual and the society perceive, process, and analyze information on this matter. Based on the construal level theory and from the point of view of psychological distance, we need to raise awareness and bring these topics closer to the reader, so that they will reflect on these issues and perceive them less abstractly and more concretely. Further, we need to improve social competence and emotional intelligence so that we will be able to place long-term societal goals before one’s own short-term goals, thereby not thinking only about today but also creating a vision of the future. The global environment, planet Earth, is a highly complex system, which we cannot truly understand with the help of simplified models that we, humans, are able to process. Our human understanding of the complexity of a grain of sand simply isn’t enough to construe the universe. This would require time and knowledge, which we do not have today and which we will probably not have for a long time.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 3. Environmental Costs Hierarchy
Abstract
The third chapter, entitled Environmental Costs Hierarchy, deals with the human impact on the environment, especially in terms of the ecological footprint, and the related concept of human ecological awareness. Environmental costs are costs connected with the actual or potential deterioration of natural assets due to economic activities. They can be observed from two different perspectives, namely, as costs caused, that is, costs associated with economic units actually or potentially causing environmental deterioration by their own activities, or as costs borne, that is, costs incurred by economic units independently of whether they have actually caused the environmental impacts.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 4. Social Relations
Abstract
This chapter, Social Relations, addresses the development of social competences and critical thinking and points out that in today’s technologically developed world, we need to develop our critical thinking more and more quickly (today’s information is worthless tomorrow). This is related to two basic paradoxes, namely:
1.
The problems addressed are increasingly more complex and more interdisciplinary, while our actions are increasingly more monodisciplinary.
 
2.
Providing solutions to such problems requires time, but in today’s quickly developing world, time is what we don’t have.
 
At any given moment in today’s world, we are confronted with imperfect information, information that requires a huge amount of specific expertise, or misleading information (whether unintentionally or intentionally). In the world of false prophets generating misleading information, there are countless believers who blindly believe everything these false prophets have to say, as indeed, true believers would. Based on a social-cognitive perspective, this chapter tackles a wide range of topics including misleading information, attitudes, person perception and person management, social awareness and social management as a part of emotional intelligence, prejudice, stereotypes, self-concept, discrimination, persuasion, decision-making, and other areas.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 5. Energies and Energetics
Abstract
This chapter, Energies and Energetics, deals with the fundamental knowledge and basic definitions from the fields of primary forms of energy, energy transformation, and energy production. We point out that energy is the capacity to do work and that it occurs in nature in various forms. Energy can neither be created from nothing, nor it can be destroyed (used up, exhausted). It can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. Energetics is the study of energy, the origin of energy, and the flow and transformation of energy. Further on, the chapter discusses topics such as electricity mix, energy consumption, and sustainable developement.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 6. Green Solutions
Abstract
This chapter, Green Solutions, discusses various forms of energy extraction and production and points out the need for a rational use of energy. In order to be deemed green energy, a resource cannot produce pollution, such as is found with fossil fuels. In this chapter, the current situation on greenhouse gas emissions by pollutant, and by sector, is presented.
Greenhouse gas emission in the world by pollutant (Source: UNFCCD Interface)
Greenhouse gas emission in the EU by sectors (Source: UNFCCD Interface)
Carbon dioxide (CO2) – 81%
Methane (CH4) – 11%
Nitrous oxide (N2O) – 5%
Hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) – 2%
Energy – 80.70%
Industry – 7.82%
Agriculture – 8.72%
Waste management – 2.75%
If we want to address and solve the problem of energy production and consumption and, at the same time, to reduce greenhouse gas resources and act green, there are only two diametrically opposed options, saving energy or using green energy sources. In between the two options, there is a range of intermediate, hybrid solutions, including more or less intense energy saving and the use of more or less environmentally friendly energy sources. Of course, modern technologies also play an important role in this respect, as they enable the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through higher efficiency and cleaning of toxic gas emissions, which helps to partially neutralize their harmful impact on the environment. This can be achieved through a combination of general regulations at a global level and raising the awareness of individuals.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 7. A View to the Future and Human Awareness
Abstract
This chapter focuses on already-existing, alternative, under-researched, or unaffordable solutions, such as nuclear fusion (the most promising future energy source), artificial photosynthesis, or various other modern visions of energy extraction. We also touch on topics such as the storage of energy as well as greenhouse and other gases, recycling and reuse of energy waste and its processing, storage or reuse of wastes from different sources or technological processes, and their impact on the environment. Theoretical ideas and knowledge from previous chapters are summarized, and we no longer deal so much with the concrete ecological problems themselves as with trying to suggest potential solutions based on critical thinking and rational judgment. In doing so, we focus in more detail on possible solutions for two of the most pressing problems in terms of sustainability and the environment:
1.
The problem of using alternative, non-traditional forms of energy production and resources. (We provide an outline of the critical relationship toward the use of nuclear energy among its opponents and advocates and attempt to demonstrate how we can develop critical thinking and a critical attitude toward certain issues at a systemic and long-term level.)
 
2.
The problem of transportation, the related stress on the environment, and the impact of transport on the ecological footprint. (Modern trends for a transition to using electricity in transport are highlighted. Electricity is still mostly obtained from fossil fuels.)
 
In both cases, we focus mainly on the causal links between energy production and energy consumption and the impacts of these processes on the environment and the ecological footprint. These issues are observed from a long-term perspective, from the point of view of sustainability, environmental awareness, and a possible change in the attitude of the individual and the society as a whole.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Chapter 8. Conclusion
Abstract
In this chapter, Conclusion, we finish in the same way we started: a man doesn’t need an outside enemy, he’s the greatest threat to himself. But he is not just a threat to himself, he’s a threat also to everything and everyone around him. No living thing on earth destroys earth more than it takes for its existence, except for humans. And for that, he’s willing to do anything, deceive, kill, destroy, and justify what it does with a backlash and a lie. There is a saying: “Hard things are easy; easy things are hard,” called Moravec’s paradox, after Hans Moravec. Moravec wrote in 1988, “it is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility” (Moravec, The society of mind. Simon and Schuster, 1988, p. 15).
Similarly, Minsky emphasized that the most difficult human skills to reverse engineer are those that are unconscious. “In general, we’re least aware of what our minds do best,” he wrote, and added “we’re more aware of simple processes that don’t work well than of complex ones that work flawlessly” (Minsky, Mind children. Harvard University Press, 1986, p. 29)
The chapter concludes with the commentaries of young people to our attitudes, or especially to the attitudes of the decision-makers toward the environment. Children of the world have clearly shown what they think: “Blah, Blah, Blah.” On behalf of these youngsters, Greta Thunberg criticized leaders over the climate crisis, saying:
They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this (UNCC_COP26, 2021) to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us. Our emissions are still rising. The science doesn’t lie.
We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.
Boris Aberšek, Andrej Flogie
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Human Awareness, Energy and Environmental Attitudes
Authors
Boris Aberšek
Andrej Flogie
Copyright Year
2022
Electronic ISBN
978-3-031-05871-4
Print ISBN
978-3-031-05870-7
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05871-4