Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. This is precisely the reason I have taken to trying to convert one person at a time who sits on the “we must transition from fossil fuels to save the planet” side of the fence. Debate and discussion is the only path forward.
So, every time I see a post on LinkedIn that suggests something about ending fossil fuels, accelerating the transition, etc etc…., I challenge the author to a debate on the podcast. I have made 30 such challenges, and only 1 has been accepted. So Colleen Brennan-Vandersteen of Winnipeg, the Founder/CEO of Save our Planet Refillery joined me for a chat yesterday.
Before I continue, I want to acknowledge debate is hard. Steven Koonin drove this point home for me on the Joe Rogan podcast when asked if he and Andrew Dessler could have a debate. Koonin said that most scientists need to see the argument written and have time to write a rebuttal. I have to acknowledge that my love of debate is that I have a lot of time to research stuff, I have high retention of things I read, and I’m quick on my feet and articulate. It’s an unfair playing field for most. It is why in the 13 minute clip from the full podcast I attach here, I am playing the role more of host than debater.
I don’t see the “energy transition” debate as a battle for the climate. I see it as a battle for survival of society. It’s a huge statement. Let me explain. Our world runs on energy. Our cities exist because we can transport food from far away, to highly dense, highly energetic areas of productivity. If energy security and stability and affordability goes away, society collapses. You have to look no further than Europe to see that. But this battle is one that is being fought by a propaganda narrative that is so strong and so compelling, that supporters of it don’t need to bring data, facts, science or logic to a discussion. Only fear of what could happen and hope of what we can do about it. This clip is truly remarkable and I encourage you to listen to it as you drive somewhere.
Our politicians are idiots. It’s our fault, of course. We voted them in. But to wake up to headlines that the US will help Europe with LNG imports only months after Senator Warren wrote letters to the major CEOs of natural gas companies accusing them of profiteering for exporting natural gas… well, it’s a lot to take.
I am writing regarding my concern about rising natural gas prices for American consumers, the impact this will have for families struggling to pay their bills and keep their homes warm this winter, and the extent to which these price increases are being driven by energy companies’ corporate greed and profiteering as they ‘moved record amounts of U.S. gas out of the country.
My chat with Colleen inspire me to reflect on the role of technology and the changes over my life time. So I went to the used bookstore and picked up a book I haven’t read for a long time. It inspired this post.
Is technology always better? Perhaps it is, but there is nothing more grounding than going to a used bookstore and finding a book you haven’t read in 28 years.
I have always loved ‘Atlas Shrugged’ more than ‘The Fountainhead.’ The logo of Prevail Energy was inspired by AS. Every time I go to NYC, I make sure to pay homage to the statue at Rockefeller Center. Until recently, the first tattoo I planned to get was Atlas holding the world. But today, and with this reading of The Fountainhead, the book meets a changed person from the one that first picked it up at 16.
In fairness, at 16 I was a different kind of kid. The four books I read in order that summer? Atlas Shrugged. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Pillars of the Earth. The Foutainhead. Did I pick them up because I was shaped, or did my picking them up shape me? We will never know. But I think of them often, even today.
Thinking of global energy policy today and reflecting on COVID policy that crushed the last two years makes me ponder the future. I am stuck between images of Hank Reardon and Dagny Taggert on the one hand and Howard Roark on the other. In one case, two fight while the productive in the world around them shrug. In the other, Howard refuses to give into the game and would rather never work as an architect again than yield to their mediocrity. In one, Hank and Dagny yell into the void as productivity shrugs and John Galt enters. In the other, Howard shrugs until the void yells back and he continues on his path.
In January of 2021, I wrote of a great shrug in the oil and gas industry. A shrug where oil and gas producers stopped caring about consumers: they would continue to consume no matter what. O&G stopped caring about politics. They too would try to consume no matter what. The solution? To shrug and stop. Prices would rise, the consumer would scream at the politicians and they would figure out the truth about energy.
We have shrugged, but we need more Howard and go for the jugular of those that believe in unicorns and fairy dust as the power behind the global economy. They will not learn. They will not change. They must be defeated and only economics and reality can defeat them. COVID intervention led to historic inflation, the collapse of the global supply chain and COVID is still with us. Stupid is as stupid does.
Do not yield. Do not break. Do not grow. Pay down debt. Buy back stock. Merge. And let prices rise until the world yields to the idea that all energy is good energy. Even coal in some cases. Only then will the world have a chance. Anything short of that, and politicians and consumers will go back to business as usual while waiting for the climate apocalypse. And the result of that in 5 years may be irreparable.
We need to go full Howard