When working in the energy sector, it is sometimes easy to see it in quite simple terms. We need energy – it powers our lives, our homes, businesses, manufacturing, farms, vehicles… the list is inexhaustible!
It derives from a mix of sources, such as fossil fuels, radiation and also more prominently today, natural sources. Though of course natural sources played a big part in creating the fossil fuels we came to rely on throughout the 20th century, namely the sun, which was captured over millions of years in fossilised forests to create a very powerful black rock – coal.
So, energy is pretty important stuff! But I’d never really seen it as a key factor in the human species, neither in our evolution and development to the people we are today nor as something which powers our thinking, our connections, and our outlook on life, through its impact on our bodies.
Energy was a key factor in our growth as a civilisation. Humanity’s relationship with energy began hundreds of thousands of years ago with our discovery of fire. It was first used to keep us warm, then to ward off aggressors before later heating our foods. Cooking transformed the energy available from food, making it easier to absorb and more beneficial for us. The carbohydrates, proteins and lipids that provide our bodies with nutrition are unravelled and exposed when they are heated. This has expedited our evolution, increasing our brain size and capacity to think more creatively. And driving our dominance as a species.
Energy has been a catalyst for our progress. But it is also very much part of us. Inside us. Energy drives our thinking, our actions and emotions. Quantum physicists inform us that we are not simply physical entities but a mass of atoms that influence our very being by constantly spinning and vibrating, creating the energy that drives us. (I know. It was hard for me to get my head round, too.)
At the turn of the 19th century, physicists started to explore the relationship between energy and matter. Their research developed new theories, moving away from the Newtonian material universe to one which recognised that everything in the universe is made out of energy. This was a new form of thinking.
We often try to see things in simple, solid terms, to help us make sense of things and construct simple belief systems. Yet what the science appeared to be telling us was that we are products of energy, it is part of our very being, radiating our own unique energy signature.
As Nikola Tesla reportedly said, “The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
So, there you have it. And just one nice point to conclude: the human heart’s magnetic field can be felt feet away from the body. That’s a fact.
Energy is so much more than a commodity. It is life. It should be nurtured, harnessed and used positively. It is outside us and inside us. It has fuelled our growth as a species. And it impacts on our emotional state and how we connect with others every single second of the day. So, I’m glad to work in energy. I ?energy!
By David Bootle
David Bootle is Global Head of Corporate Marketing for Northern Gas and Power. Formally a national news journalist, David has extensive experience of international marketing and an equally extensive network of media, broadcast and advertising contacts. With Northern Gas and Power, David has provided positive brand profile with trade and international media, Chambers of Commerce and the CBI to name a few.