![]() ![]() But with the Naypyitaw government and local business people stuck in the old-fashioned mindset, and with foreign fossil fuel investors banging on the door with lucrative offers, any green dream may simply remain on the drawing board. It had a particular purchase during the interwar era, as demonstrated by the rise across Europe of a back-to-nature philosophy that embraced everyone from ramblers to nudists and folklorists to craftspeople. If this was Bhutan, a small country with a small population, or a small Middle Eastern state, such a program might work. The dream of escaping to the country retains a powerful hold on our imagination. China’s entry into large-scale production of solar energy options may help bring the price down, but it would need a Myanmar visionary with his hands on the levers of power, plus sizeable foreign investment, to turn such an such an idea into an industrial-scale energy option for this emerging economy. It’s important that you have some idea of where you want to go, some kind of dream, says Rutger Bregman, 33, a Dutch historian and author who has written about utopian thinking. Any economist worth his or her salt will tell you that the cheap fuel options on Myanmar’s doorstep make investment in industrial-scale solar and wind options a questionable move. Environmentalists typically hammer on about switching economies to “clean” options such as solar and wind, without mentioning the costs and inevitable carbon footprint involved in the construction and maintenance stages. The United States still lives in the past and is seeking to exploit harder-toextract natural gas and tar sands, endangering their citizens and the environment, rather than throwing sufficient government weight behind renewable options, largely due to the vicelike grip American fossil fuel companies have on those in the halls of power.Īny Utopian dream for a clean energy option for Myanmar, however, is tempered by the hard reality of lack of vision and the financial incentives on offer through extracting local oil and gas, and the slightly cleaner but problematic hydropower. China is, in effect, killing its citizens in its drive for massive economic growth due to major air and water pollution. ![]() China and the EU have cottoned on late to renewable energy options, and even the oilproducing nations of the Middle East are seeking to catch up with cleaner energy options. ![]()
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