More often than not, we tend to overlook our truly spectacular rise from grinding poverty to previously unimaginable abundance. And so, during this Thanksgiving holiday, let us give thanks for accountable government, market economy, and scientific progress that make a king out of each of us. – Marion Tupy, Cato Institute
The celebration of a good harvest by about 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians at Plymouth Plantation in 1621 is commemorated each year in the U.S. The three days of feasting at Plymouth was a respite from fear and poverty. Only half of the original hundred Pilgrims had survived the winter that followed their landing. Yes, the air and water was pristine, the food organic and free-range, and the energy renewable. But abject poverty and death were the norm.
Today, Thanksgiving celebrates the compound benefits of human progress. But it should also be a warning against the threat of almost unimaginable retrogression, in energy and otherwise.
Capitalist institutions, particularly incentives from private property, which the early settlers stumbled upon, would institutionalize good harvests for millions of Americans. But another factor literally fueled progress: dense mineral energies to better warm, cook, and light, and to run the machines of the Industrial Revolution.
Primitive to Modern Energy
In the 17th century, inanimate energy came from burning plants and woody matter. Water wheels added an energy element to primitive biomass, while human labor and animals did the rest, not unlike the century to come, except for the addition of whale oil for lighting.
The richest and most stately man in the world had about the same technology as those at Plymouth for the first Thanksgiving. Louis XIV, the King of France, had more energy at his disposal than any other person. The Palace of Versailles had 2,000 windows for solar, 1,250 chimneys for biomass, and hundreds of horses for transportation. There was no energy storage or portability; food sent from the kitchens to the King’s dining room could arrive cold because of the travel time.
This would change in the 19th century. Coal, joined by petroleum and then natural gas, the fossil fuels, did the work previously done by slaves and animals — or work that could not be done at all.
Illuminating oil was a quantum leap. “Kerosene has, in one sense, increased the length of life among the agricultural population,” an observer stated at the time. “Those who, on account of the dearness or inefficiency of whale oil, were accustomed to go to bed soon after sunset and spend almost half their time in sleep, now occupy a portion of the night in reading and other amusements; and this is more particularly true of the winter seasons.”
Erich Zimmermann at mid-20th century filled in the energy history:
When James Watt patented his steam engine in 1776 . . . it marked the beginning of a long series of inventions, including the steam turbine, the gasoline explosion engine, the Diesel engine, the gas combustion turbine, the different jets … the water turbine, and the host of other inventions which have made electricity one of the most widely used forms of energy.
“These inventions so raised the productivity of man,” the resource economist added, “that he, at last, found the leisure and surplus which made possible the systematic pursuit of scientific research.”
Amory Lovins added twenty-five years later: “As medical science, by deferring death, has allowed many more people to live on the earth, so the energy of fossil fuels, by deferring physical scarcity, has kept those people alive.”
Even the Neo-Malthusian John Holdren dare not dispute the utility of plentiful, reliable energy. “Affordable energy in ample quantities is the lifeblood of the industrial societies and a prerequisite for the economic development of the others,” stated President Obama’s two-term energy and science advisor.
James Hansen, father of the global warming alarm, noted:
Let’s be clear: the frequent comparison of the fossil fuel and tobacco industries is nonsense. Fossil fuels are a valuable energy source that has done yeomen service for humankind.
The work of fossil fuels and electricity can never end. “I am ashamed at the number of things around my house and shops that are done by … human beings,” Thomas Edison stated a century ago. “Hereafter a motor must do all the chores.” Prometheus Unbound still has many chores to do, freeing time for other pursuits.
Conclusion
Economic historian Gale Pooley calculated that in terms of work-time pricing, a Thanksgiving feast has fallen more than 40% since the mid-1980s. “Be thankful for the increase in human knowledge that transforms atoms into valuable resources,” he said. With a similar 40% increase in U.S. population, “we can confidently say that more people truly make resources much more abundant.” Amen, and thanks.
Editor’s Note: This repost from two years ago gives thanks to free market policy for the master resource of energy.
