> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Craig Mackintosh > Reference:: https://www.permaculturenews.org/2010/02/25/the-forgotten-energy/ > Date:: 2010 > Tags:: #labour #machine > WeftLinks:: [[Environmental value of craft]] ### Summary While machines may seem more efficient, we don't account for all the energy that goes into their production and maintenance. As energy supply becomes critical, we need to return to forms of manual labour. The human need for manual exertion takes ironic form in the use of machines in gyms like treadmills. Manual labour has been denigrated as backward and demeaning. If we respected labour more, we could save energy twice-over: the machine we no longer need (e.g., leaf blower) and the gym equipment to compensate for lack of exertion. >We drive to energy-consuming gyms where we transform ourselves into a kind of hamster-on-a-treadmill, becoming a slave to the machine, reluctantly expending our internal energy in our precious free time – energy that could have been put to practical use in our daily work, if only that kind of work wasn’t disappearing as fast as the CO2 content in our atmosphere is increasing.