THE UPEI SUN,Thursday,Nov.3o,1978,pae 6

Thfi modem riddle of sun, wind, and Water. .

The Review

by Wynne 7homas Dra wmgs by Huntley Brown

At Spry Point, a scenic headland on the wmdswept eastern shore of Prince Edward Island, stands the Ark, an attempt at a tangible expreSSion of one of Canada's moreintangible concepts - the "conserver SOCiety".

A functional combination of solar-heated home and greenhouse, the Ark was conceived four years ago as the country’s first "bio-shelter". It was designed to pioneer living techniques appropriate to the new king of

' society that ‘has been advocated by various I

organizations and indiViduals as the life-style to which Canadians should aspire.

Although the term "conserver society" is now more than five years old, the time that has elapsed Since it was coined has tended to obscure rather than illuminate its definition lndeed, it appears that some people, after the fashion of Humpty Dumpty, would have it mean anything they choose it to mean. "Its appeal", the federal ministry of seience and technology noted in a recent document, "lies in that it easily lends itself to meaning many things to many people.”

Thus. some see the conserver somety, as a necessary and, indeed, ineVitable adiustment by Canadianstoafuturethatislikelytobecharacterized by a diminishing and increasmgly expensive supply of natural resources, notably energy. But others View itin a‘context of more radical somal Change. To such people the Conserver somer represents a renunciation of the industrial state as we know it todayand a return toa way of' life less dominated by modern technology. The p’roponents of‘this interpretation enwsage a somer in Which man lives in-affinity with nature, abandoning 'what some regard as the ego-system in favour of the ec09y'stem. ‘

The term', "conserver socaety". is' a "Canadian invention. It was first used by the SCience Council .of Canada in January, 1973, in a report on natural resources policy inwhich the’council urged the need for new institutions to protect and control resource development in Canada. Two years later, when the term was beginning to creep into general usage, the counCIl addressed itself somewhat belatedly to the task of defining what it meant. it came up with the followmg provisional definition:

. "The concept of a conserver society arises from-a ‘deep concern for the future, and the realizationthat

decisions taken today, in such areas as energy and ‘

‘reSOUrces, may have irreversible and pOSSibly destructive iinpacvs in the medium to long term. The necessity for a conserver SOCiety follows from om perception of the world as a finite host to humanity. and from our recognition of increasmg global interdependence."

Other definitions of the conserver somer have beenvadvanced that imply varying degrees of social,

ii? I. r, I" . ‘ Wood; on important ggrt of our~ future energy mix?‘

economic, and political change. However, the concept of "doing more with less”, particularly in the use of energy, is either implicit or explicit .in nearly all of them. This focus on energy is understandable. Not onlydoes it fuel today's industrial economy but, in One form or another, it is an essential ingredient of any conceivable future society, regardless ofwhether it be industrial or pastoral,

Concerning energy, however, two distinct and mutually exclusive schools of thought have emerged. The first recognizes the desirability and, eventually, the inevitability of Canada’s becoming heavily dependent on renewable resources, Such as sun, water, wind, and biomass for its energy requirements. However, it believes that for the tran5itional period we have no option but to depend on our remaining nonrenewable resources and, indeed, tht we will have to find more of them, especially Oil and gas, to'tide us over until renewables become a practical reality.

This View of energy development, of course, is not confined to such advocates of the conserver somety. It is expoused by, among others, Canada's energy industry and the federal and provinCIal governments. Its validity is also recognized by the SCIence COUhCll. The authors

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begin our transn- commitments have fluid fuelsrskills, .

K For its bold a , Edward Island, the' organization dedi- renewable techno maximum reliance

Such an app? the philosophy of I been established,“ biologist, Dr. John} Ark, the federal environment so, terms: "For preseht wasteful technpl low-consumption; renewable reso'urc systems." “,1,”

Thus, the Aft Sufficient. Two‘ “a take care of heat'in . and greenhousea .

i .

of the council's reporter-1 Oanaqggsa C onserver Society urge a "preferencefofisouEestglch as hydro, solar, wind, and vegetationf’,bi_it warnt this is a long-term goal. "In this century", theny , "the contribution from renewable ene‘_r§§4\ivill crashiin not exceed 15 to 20 percent of totalerii-z-rgysupply'.‘ " .tilthese renewable resources becOmef firntlye'sfh L bed and provide a major share, pr‘e‘sent planstoéiopén and develop new supplies of fossil fuels and-’electricity will have to continue..." 7

The other school oftliiought/ei‘cemplified in a now— famous monograph iby thi‘ British physicist Amory Lovins, holds that any Continued dependence on fossil fuels and other high-technology sources of energy is undesirable and unnecessary, .-.:,both socially and economically. Subscribers to this'view claim that the "soft" technology reqmred to develOp renewable energy is well within our grasp, and they believe that countries Such as Canada should concentrate their efforts on an immediate_switch to renewablevresources.

7 For Canada .to turn «(snack on its-~hard-won

nonrenewable energy tech nologégfore deriving all the

benefits of that technology seems to many to besabout as logical as abandoning the wheel in favour ofthe fulcrum and; the inclined plane. Butte some suppOrters

~ of the conserver somety it makes'considerable sense. "A

soft energy economy”, Lovins has written with specific

‘_ reference‘to Qanada, "is smoothly attainablepnlyif we

~ic rut-v ‘1‘...

.leeflrl: was designed as, a;seIf-contai;ged Irving unitéiwhere people could use renewable energy/17' '

wood stove-6&3 provide supp] {brill planned not o'qfi/gto feed surplus:

objective, béigg-‘inl

Institute litera' e, " in which the‘ilgbm fish...Above a t 9 household — alto ‘- u‘se science in the!r hands the challe ' wOrld’fl When the September, ‘ i975», described they“? 'V the history ofguf, exemplified ’Tliv’ling'

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Now, anneal N" preliminary»w 3889 experiment. Altho 'r‘n’uted, it is clear “‘3 to plan."Some as?“ ‘tOo thore'auinan I“ _, there; have been i, funding has been under: the dire-31;”: Resourcasrwilht-f‘“

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