Dealing with the current insanity of fossil fuel narratives – the smart path forward

Given the gloomy time of year, when the sun peeks above the horizon (for 12 minutes every afternoon, laughs at me (I’m pretty sure), then disappears), and the gloomy state of Canada’s energy sector, I found myself in such a lowly state of mind that I actually read the news. It seemed like a fitting thing to do, sort of like putting my head in the oven, which is a myth and doesn’t really work anyway with modern gas stoves. I found that out after listening to COP25 highlights.

Anyway, I did find and saw something interesting, an article titled “China leads the world in coal and clean energy, baffling experts”. The story was about how China has been going flat out on renewables, earning kudos from the climate industry, while at the same time going flat out developing coal resources, earning the wrath of the climate industry. Or, as the title notes, puzzlement.

I shudder to think what sort of “experts” are baffled by this; China (like India) has a huge population that has the whiff of middle class (or higher) in its nostrils and is going after that scent with a vengeance. It doesn’t take an expert to surmise that 1.3 billion people moving in that direction (2.5 billion including India) are going to take a formidable amount of energy. Ironically, their energy declarations echo both Obama and Trump, believe it or not, who both voiced support for an “all of the above” energy policy at one point. As the world grows ever more developed and comfortable, we need it all – cheap petroleum supplies won’t last forever.

The “experts” that are baffled are presumably the ones that are pushing relentlessly for exclusively solar and wind energy development, and are almost comically out of touch with reality. Or, to put it a better way, they are focused on a different reality; they know very well the master plan of such Green New Deal thinking – an ideological revolution – and these plans are inherently energy ignorant. Nevertheless, such “solar/wind only” thinking has taken over the world’s media and climate change narrative.

So what to do? Do we take up the fight against that energy ignorance, and try to reform the media? Good luck with that. Do we tackle the wind/solar/ignorance narrative head on? Good luck with that also – it is so intertwined with the climate-change-as-social-movement narrative that it’s an unwinnable war also. The world’s central bankers are now on that band wagon, for crying out loud.

We know that simply putting facts out there doesn’t work, at least when the task is given to engineers – “This is all so obvious everyone will figure it out eventually” isn’t a good comms plan.

We also can surmise that the media narrative is lost, because it is heretical to speak out against the flow of UN generated news. But that doesn’t mean we give up.

Check out this fantastic video that explains perfectly something that shouldn’t need explaining at all, but clearly does – that the petroleum industry is made up of people that worry a great deal about the environment, about communities, and about their responsibility to do the job properly. We assume that the world knows this, but it doesn’t – it knows what it is force fed, that Big Oil would steamroll a neonatal unit if it could make a buck at it.

Fortunately, we don’t need to deal with the mastermind energy ignoramuses – we can take this war to the people directly, and successfully. The general population is not necessarily ignorant of their reliance on petroleum products; some may be but a great many are not. They are simply afraid to consider alternatives to the media/climate juggernaut. And at the end of the day most don’t give a hoot about energy at all, even though they acknowledge the anti-petroleum narrative because, well, everyone’s doing it, and in general humans more closely resemble sheep than apes, if fashion trends are anything to go by.

There is a reason Greta Thunberg became an overnight sensation; she was created by a very powerful movement as an unassailable image. Who can argue against a Swedish teenage girl without looking like a heel? The performance of those behind her is appalling, but, as you can readily see, it works.

The video linked above is narrated by a sincere, real version of Thunberg. The narrator is just as concerned about the environment, and she actually works in the field. She is telling it like it is, and she is walking the talk. Watch this video next to the manufactured performances of climate activists, and you’ll see what I mean.

The tide will turn against extremist activism, because reality is not on their side – future climate scenarios are distant, theoretical, and rapidly losing their ability to scare people. At the same time, the world’s demand for petroleum products –as evidenced by China above – continues to grow. The world needs more energy of all sorts, and we should be proud of the standards we uphold in supplying it to the world. And we should say so.

Time to fight back against indoctrinating extremism, but let’s do it on the battlefield we choose – not theirs.

Think we can ever live without fossil fuels? Pick up “The End of Fossil Fuel Insanity” and learn what the answer really looks like. Hint: sensationalistic media does more harm than good! Available at Amazon.ca, Indigo.ca, or Amazon.com.