Diversity, Not Just for Humans

Lately, we have seen so much about being accepting and inclusive to people of all types and how this is needed in our world.  Each of us brings something unique to this world and by excluding people we can miss out on some really great things.  But diversity cannot and should not be limited to just people.  Think about investing, would you really want to put all of your savings in just one company?  No, you pick some stocks and also invest in some real estate.  But why in this world where we are touting the benefits of diversity, are we overlooking other areas such as our energy production? For everything we do on this Earth, there is always a downside or drawback.  Did you know that the process of making solar panels is highly toxic to the Earth and that when the solar panels have exceeded their life of productivity they are hazardous waste?  I do have solar panels, with the financial incentives, I am making money on this investment.  Think about it this way, there is a world limit on allowable pollution, so while I am helping reduce emissions my family produces, large companies buy the green credits I earn so that they can pollute more than their allotment but still keep the world within the set limit.  Also, realize some countries pollute more than their allotment and put the pollution limits over what they should be.  So while some countries work to find alternative ways of powering our life, others just keep polluting at greater rates.  What about wind power?  Something I just learned this winter is that wind turbines need to pull energy from a power source when it is cold to keep them from freezing internally.  And further petroleum products are used for the deicing of the blades.  My husband worked at a coal and oil-fired power plant for years and I have learned so much about energy production from him and my own research as I studied environmental science as part of my Masters in Geoscience.  Many areas are trying to decommission their fossil fuel power plants, some are converting to natural gas as a cleaner energy source.  Some areas where houses use natural gas as their primary heat source ban gas-fired power plants from running when it is too cold so they don’t take the natural gas away from heating.  I know this happened quite a few winters in my area and the nuclear power plant and the coal plant had to ramp up production to compensate for the natural gas plants not running.  But, now that the local coal plant has been decommissioned and shut down what will happen when these cold snaps happen?  Another thing that worries me is the car industry.  Electric cars may give off less emissions than their gas-powered counterparts, but how is the electricity being generated that they need?  I saw a picture of an electric car charging station in Texas that is hooked up to a generator. Is a gas car really polluting more than that generator did for the time it took to recharge the electric car?    What happens in an emergency?  Will you have the power you need to travel where you need to go?  I think of areas with fires and hurricanes where you need to evacuate, I can see someone telling the emergency crew “I can’t leave yet, my car isn’t charged.”  I think that we need to have multiple sources of energy available to use and continue to keep searching for new and healthier ways to power our needs.  I encourage you to do your own investigating on these topics.  As I mentioned earlier everything has a drawback and maybe we do not want to put all of our eggs in one basket.  What are some other areas in life that you think benefit from diversity?