"Polluted game : where is the..." by Voyages etc... is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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(That photo above is Paris. Look very closely at the skyline. You can barely see it in the smog.)
ONE BIG THING: Just for you.
Why Energy?
Over the years I've asked myself many times why I’m involved in the energy industry. It has a poor reputation in the world, and does a lot of damage that people don't really understand. Ultimately, though, I think that energy is what drives the world we have today.
Pollution
A hundred years ago nobody gave a second thought to what the energy industry was doing to the environment. It took a lot of effort, and a number of major incidents, to make people aware that the industry is slowly poisoning them. There's all the CO2 coming out of stacks that is heating the planet. There are ponds across the country that are full of deadly chemicals like arsenic, just waiting for some accident before they will poison the drinking water of a major city. There are hotspots everywhere, where the incidence of cancer is much higher, and not coincidentally they are neighbors to a power or chemical plant.
Climate Change is real. I’m sorry for those of you who don't believe it is. You are living in a fool's paradise. Your knowledge has been corrupted by campaigns of misinformation, put out by the people who continue to profit from the earth's demise. Even the Exxon people knew this back in the 1970's, and hid the information from public view so they could keep making money.
There are many people in the industry who deny certain facts. They may have personal, professional, or political reasons to do so. Some refuse to believe that the industry is responsible for global warming because if true, they would have to confront their own role in the matter. Some have their whole professional careers wrapped up in energy, and are afraid they won't have a job if things change. Some are deeply rooted in their politics, and cannot admit they are wrong, in case their whole belief system collapses.
So what about me?
I’m none of these things. Oh, I got into the industry because I found a well-paying job in it, but that isn't as important to me as global survival. No, I find myself justifying my own role in different ways, ways that I can live with. Maybe I’m not so different to others after all.
I believe, as I stated above, that energy is the most important thing we have going for us. It enables our world, and the more people that get energy independence, the better off they'll be. I want to make that happen. To do so, I use my talents - thinking and writing - to help companies in the energy industry. They may be small and hanging on, but helping them survive helps the industry to survive. And sooner or later we will break through the energy barrier the world faces.
The thing is, the industry is changing. Rapidly in some cases, slowly in others, but change is inevitable. Coal will stop being used to generate electricity, probably in my lifetime; if not, then definitely in my son's lifetime. It's already down to a third of the market, and falling. As renewables get more efficient and cheaper, they push more coal - the most expensive fuel - out of the market.
My role
In some ways I see my role as similar to a nurse in an old-age home. Their patients are facing mortality, but the nurses work to make them more comfortable, and ease their pain. That’s what I do. I have helped to make coal plants run better, so that they can survive until no longer needed. I’ve helped people in the industry to get their products and services into the hands of those who need them. And in my work with renewables, I’m helping to raise the next generation, the kids who will grow up to run the world of the future.
Your role
So what's your role? What do you do in the industry that might fit a similar path? Or perhaps you're the opposite, thinking that you're hanging on until this fad of renewables is proven false ? Either way, I think it is important to evaluate yourself, to be true to yourself, and find that niche that you fit into.
Finally
Normally I'd say something here about marketing, but I seem to have run out of space. Sometimes it's good to take a step back, look at the whole forest, and make sure that everything is as you think it should be. Then you can go back to working on the could be's.
- Steve
TWO LITTLE THINGS: What I've been writing.
We lost power a few months ago, it was out for over a day. It got me thinkingabout how to avoid that happening in the future, and that got me thinking about how the electrical grid is going to develop. Will we all have solar panels someday? Batteries in our homes? Change is inevitable, but what will it be?
I was also thinking about your voice. Specifically, who does the content you write sound like? Is it all the same? Does it differ? And is that good or bad? What if you were halfway through this newsletter and suddenly the style of writing changed? Would you notice, and if so, would you ask yourself why? Too many questions about voice, I think, so I wrote something about it. I think it’s important to be consistent, I’m just not sure how to do that in an environment where multiple people are working on one project together.
THREE INDUSTRY THINGS: What I've been reading.
Gaining power in this day and age is amazing. It astounds me that people in the US don't have electricity, or running water, or the internet. These things we consider as necessities don't even get to everyone here, let alone the rest of the world. So it is great to see electric workers across the country volunteering to get power to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
ERCOT (the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, the folks who manage the Texas grid) has a three-tier power emergency alert system. This week they twice went to emergency level 1 (the lowest), for the first time in 5 1/2 years. It’s interesting to read the details of when they would increase their emergency level. I'm sure every grid has a similar plan. Question to the people who say solar is useless because it doesn't work at night: When do you think the highest level of demand is? (Hint: It's specified in the linked document).
It seems like every time there's a story about small nuclear power being developed, it's followed by a story about a nuclear accident. As always, the explosion in Russia will turn out to have much bigger impact than initial reports suggest. It asks the question though about whether very small reactors will ever be safe enough to deploy. Imagine the US military carrying small reactors into war zones for their power needs, as has been suggested. Wouldn't they be prime targets?
"Electricity pylon - underneath" by lydia_shiningbrightly is licensed under CC BY 2.0
FOUR QUOTES: Things to think about.
“But enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think about me?” - I don't even know who said this one first, it seems to have a thousand parents. But isn't it just about the perfect marketing quote?
“If I were to let my life be taken over by what is urgent, I might very well never get around to what is essential.” - Henri Nouwen. There is a big difference between urgent and essential, and you can save yourself a lot of work by identifying which is which.
“The first draft is always perfect, because all it needs to do is exist.” - Casey Fowler. Write it! Doesn't matter how good it is, just get it done. You can fix it later. That perfect book you read? It didn't come out of the author’s brain like that, it was edited a dozen times.
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” - John C. Maxwell. What do you do every day that holds you back? What don't you do every day that could propel you forward?
FIVE IDEAS: Things to use.
Have you ever read Nicholas Bate? He has produced a lot of really good articles on getting things done. This one is about making a plan for the year, but it really applies to anything you want to do. I especially like the idea of checking things off your plan, but keeping them visible so you can see how much progress you've made.
Speaking of lists, I found this one about Principles. Meaning the ideas that people live by, the things they want to hang their hats on. This one is about software design principles, but so much applies to marketing or just life in general. It's interesting to look through and see where different people have come up with very similar ideas. Lots to unpack here, and surely a few ideas to live by.
Could you write your email replies in less than five sentences? I'm not sure that I could. It has a good idea to limit your response to the essential bits, but sometimes you need more. Rather than a hard limit, how about just try to be concise? Heck, this paragraph is already at five sentences.
I'm not going to deny that I have a problem with focus. Not the sit-down-and-do-something kind of focus, but the having so many things I want to do that I keep switching between them and not finishing anything kind. Warren Buffett’s adviceis useful. Make a priority list, and ignore everything at the bottom until the top items are done. I'll let you know how it goes.
I love Pew Research for random survey results. What I mean by that is that they cover such a wide variety of topics that there’s always something interesting. Not only that, but many of the items are really good as writing prompts, or better yet to add a little bit of info to an article I'm writing.
Thanks for reading this far. See you next month.
Steve
The Power Copywriter
972-521-7456