Amory and Hunter Lovins: Spokespersons for a Sustainable-energy Future

(Page 15 of 15)

July/August 1984
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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PLOWBOY: You seem to have great faith in individuals.

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AMORY: Yes, we actually take seriously what is perhaps the most basic premise of market economics or of populism. That's the notion of the sovereign consumer — the Jeffersonian concept that most people are pretty smart and, given the incentive and opportunity, can choose wisely for themselves. That's opposed to the Hamiltonian tradition that most people are pretty dumb and that complex technical issues must be decided by unaccountable experts. Since the mid-70's we've been running a large-scale national experiment in energy, which has proved beyond doubt, I think, that Jefferson was right.

HUNTER: A lot of people who just sit in universities and look at the magnitude of the potential problems ahead are very discouraged and pessimistic. But we have an advantage: We are out working with people in communities. Look at the incredible speed with which individuals got on with solving what looked to be a hopeless situation, just did it.

AMORY: If anybody had said a few years ago that by now there would be a million solar homes in this country, and that orders of electricity from small hydro and wind power would be outpacing those from coal and nuclear plants, we would have thought that was wildly optimistic.

The revolution has already happened.

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