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For a moment it seemed certain that history was ending, that life itself was taking off from the earth to settle in the cloud, that technology would put an end to any unforeseen event, that wind, sun and water would give us the energy to continue living at full speed . The future was guaranteed and the past was a forgotten memory. There we were, it seemed possible.
But the fantasy of a future detached from the material has collided head-on with the limits of the planet. If access to raw materials becomes more expensive, the whole system suffers and the future is no longer a safe place. The trauma that this shock causes in Europe is monumental. In a small Dutch town it has just been discovered that the Microsoft data center for all of Europe, installed in its municipality, consumes five times more drinking water than expected to cool its servers, while the inhabitants of the town have rationed irrigation for the drought, which is also looming on this side of the Atlantic. They call it a cloud, but it’s on the ground and consumes about 10 percent of the world’s electricity.
The materiality of things is giving a bath of reality. The large European steel companies have indicated this week that they cannot continue to manufacture windmills with such expensive electricity, compromising the so-called decarbonization; Data from Germany has shown that the main source of electricity production so far this year has been coal, the most polluting fuel, to which Italy has also decided to return due to the gas shortage. It has been announced by the Minister for the Ecological Transition.
There is a risk that all European energy and economic ills will be classified in the folder of the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Of course, there is a lot of that, but the Russian invasion and, don’t forget, Europe’s sanctions on Moscow, are just the switch that has set in motion a crisis that has deeper causes and that had been brewing for some time. Sample button: The price of gas and electricity in Europe has been rising for a year, months before Putin decided to invade Ukraine.
There is a return of the material and, consequently, the position of those who have these raw materials is revalued, while the castles built in the air collapse. In this context, European seams burst. Trying to stop Putin with trade sanctions and financial measures shows the myopia of Brussels officials. The rhetorical juggling reaches such a point that the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has proposed this week to put a cap on the price of Russian gas that arrives by pipeline, at a time when it is Moscow that has turned off the tap. In parallel, imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), much more expensive, are multiplying, making the Spanish state, by the way, the main importer of this energy source.
It was nice to believe that the consumer had the power, but in a world thirsty for hydrocarbons and with the prices of raw materials through the roof, it is the seller who has the upper hand, as long as he is able to play his hand with skill . According to calculations by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, in the first half of the year, Russia obtained 158 billion euros from the export of fossil fuels, of which 85 thousand came from sales to Europe. In parallel, the cost generated so far by the invasion of Ukraine is estimated at 100 billion euros. The amount of gas that circulates from Russia to Europe has dropped notably, especially due to Moscow’s decision, but the high prices of hydrocarbons – even those of the Russians, punished by sanctions – mean that the benefit has not diminished. The math is what it is, and the raw materials – oil, gas, coal – are limited and where they are. That is, in Russia. The sanctions are kicking Putin in our own ass
in the fortunate expression of the journalist Mariano Guindal.
Winter looms menacingly. These are not pleasant hours in this European labyrinth plagued with false exits, from absolute nihilism to empty hope in the technological solution, passing through individualistic appeals to the worst instincts, which do nothing but feed far-right agendas well watered by the media. To do? It is the question that emerges, lonely, in the midst of helplessness. There is no magic answer, but an amputated leg may give clues.
This week, researchers have explained that they have found in Borneo the body of a young man from 31,000 years ago with an amputated and correctly healed leg. It has been presented as the oldest surgery ever recorded, but following the apocryphal quote from Margaret Mead, it is much more than that. It is proof of civilization, a sign that, despite all the sorrows, we have been taking care of ourselves for more than 30 millennia. The only possible future passes through that amputated leg, cared for and cured by the community.
