Dark Knight Rises Hits Home on Energy Issues

 

ATTENTION: MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!!!

For those of you who made it past that warning, I’m safely assuming that you’ve either seen The Dark Knight Rises or just don’t care (and should reconsider your priorities) because this movie, as you likely know, was EPIC. While I could ramble on for hours about the merits of the movie, there is, as always, that specific aspect of the movie I want to discuss: One of the major plot points of the movie centered around clean, sustainable energy.

Christopher Nolan‘s Gotham is designed to be a mirror of real life. Over the three movie arc, the city has been plagued by issues with clean water, terrorism, an income gap, organized crime, corruption, and everything in between. For the third and final movie of the trilogy, however, Nolan decided to tackle perhaps the biggest real-world issue he has to date: the environment. Right from the start, Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate are involved in a discussion about a sustainable energy project that they had invested in. As it turns out, the project, which was incredibly expensive, did in fact successfully create a nuclear fusion-powered device –  something in our world that we are years away from.

The problem with the nuclear fusion device parallels the issues faced throughout history with nuclear power: There is incredible danger involved, in contrast with the incredibly high levels of efficiency. If everything goes right, nuclear power is the perfect solution. If not, however, the damage would be catastrophic – in the case of Bruce Wayne’s device, being able to be turned into an immensely powerful nuclear bomb.

My point? As I always love to point out, sustainability and environmentalism is truly becoming mainstream – do I sense a Captain Planet movie in the making? (PLEASE CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, PLEASE!)

 

Top 7 Inventions to watch for in 2012

A friend of mine just forwarded me this article. To no surprise, all seven of these inventions involved sustainability and the environment. Check it out!

Here it is: Top 7 Inventions to watch for in 2012 | MYOO.

State Of The Union 2012:

For those of you who didn’t see President Obama’s 3rd State Of The Union Address last night, here’s a link to read it. Among the multitude of  policies, promises, and dreams that were discussed last night, it should stand as a testament to how our country is changing for the better that a major chunk of time was devoted to environmental and energy policy. Though the official statistics are not in yet, it is clear that this year’s focus dwarves last year’s speech, during which only 3 sentences – less than 1% of the speech – revolved around the environment.

Obama at 2012 State Of The Union

So what did Obama say, and how will it affect us? According to Obama, “nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy.” And he is most certainly right. Now yes, he did suggest the expansion

Why New Jersey Doesn’t Stink

I am a New Yorker, born and raised, so obviously I was taught from a very early age that “Jersey Stinks” – literally and metaphorically. However, I must tell you that “the Garden State” really does seem to live up to its name. I spent New Years Even with some friends in Jersey, and I was truly impressed by what I saw.

On my drive down, I discovered something

Energy Efficiency: Green is What You Save, Not What You Spend

Image via Wikipedia

Today, as a part of my internship with You Save Green, I assisted in an energy audit. I’ll talk more about that later, but what I want to discuss here is the multitude of economic opportunities provided to those looking to make their homes more sustainable.