I regularly get e-mails from John Ousterhout, a philosophical activist of the sustainable biodiesel community. From his latest:

In a flash of inspiration I imagined the "biofuels sustainability" discussion taking place in the late 1800's, when petroleum was struggling into the market place. Substitute "petroleum" wherever you hear "biofuels". A quick read of a recent posting was almost frightening with this interpretation. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to bring this out into a general discussion. There's a lesson to be learned here.

In fact, I remember reading some of the early controversy (roughly model-T era books) that predicted pollution, depleting resources, traffic congestion, the need to redesign cities, moral decay (seriously!), etc. People actually worried about the societal changes implied in a future dependant on petroleum, and in many ways were right. It makes me feel like a closet Luddite.

Why are we so poor at planning our future? Regardless of our intentions, we go along with the demands of a business model that is contrary to our best interests. One way to counteract this herd mentality is to promote good examples, and hope enough folks follow them. At least we would be part of a better herd.

John is right. It's not necessarily bad to emulate Luddites these days. We have to get past consumerism, and pronto!