Recently, I was reminded of my favorite quote from Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” As society and its leaders continue to debate how best to power the future of humanity, I propose we all spend some time pondering this profound thought.
The event that brought that thought to mind was the Idaho Future Cities Competition held on the Boise State University campus last week.
The contest is sponsored by the National Engineering Week Foundation, and is dedicated to providing opportunities for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders to have fun and help imagine our future, while also imagining a future for themselves as an engineer.
I had the honor of helping to judge the presentations of the five finalists, and I was impressed to see the poise, passion and intelligence of these young people as they described their concept cities. They imagined them in great detail, from how they would derive their energy to how the citizens would work, play and get around.
It was kind of like a science fair on steroids. Instead of individual projects, ideas and experiments, these kids were encouraged to think big, work as a team and, under the guidance of dozens of practicing engineers throughout Idaho, they rose to the challenge.
From hydropower to people transports (in evacuated tubes to eliminate air resistance) to fusion reactors that collect helium byproducts to sell on the open market, their ideas were wondrous to behold.
Back in the office the following Monday, the energy and breadth of those ideas were still fresh in my mind. A graduate student I supervise presented me with a book he had told me about that I had expressed an interest in: “Reinventing Fire,” by the visionary and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory Lovins.
He is well-known for his ideas that seem, at first glance, to be outrageous in their reach. But upon inspection, they turn out to be the products of an incredibly practical thinker.
I’m still reading the book, so it’s too early for a thorough review, but I’ve read enough to recommend it.
In plain prose, and clear evidence, the author lays out a path where fossil fuels are not the backbone of our economy and where energy is available to all the world’s citizens. From how we get around to how we house ourselves, he lays out a future where our economy grows, not only because energy is available, but because we’re making our renewable energy and infrastructure.
Harking back to the themes in “Natural Capitalism” (a book Lovins co-wrote in 1999), he makes the business case for sustainability, and it’s a strong one.
I would particularly recommend this to policymakers, not as a detailed roadmap but as an indication that there are workable, livable futures in which we are no longer dependent on the limited fossil fuels we currently use to sustain our way of life.
Accepting that such futures exist is an essential first step to a more secure and livable.
The middle-school kids in the Future Cities competition, and thinkers like Lovins have something very important in common: They are working hard to avoid the most insidious of mistakes, but one we all commit at some time or another: failure of imagination.
If Einstein was right, and I’m more convinced than ever that he was, avoiding that failure may be the most important thing we do.
John Gardner is director of the CAES Energy Efficiency Research Institute and professor of mechanical engineering at Boise State University.
