The End Of Energy Innocence

The End Of Energy Innocence

When Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine to go conquer that democracy, all of the abstract concepts about energy ended. While not quite a Pearl Harbor moment in terms of instantaneous ideological shift, Putin's invasion nonetheless has made clear – very clear – the importance of energy independence in a world where bad actors really do exist and they cannot be reached through conventional warfare or other means of world punishment. Suddenly, the minute the first Russian tank breached the Ukraine border, the most immediate danger to our future stopped being climate change. Certainly, no one can deny that, if we don't still keep paying attention to climate change, life in peace in the future will be very different, and far more difficult for everyone, than it is today. But thanks to a determined, unscrupulous man in Russia with his troops bombarding Ukraine and his finger literally on the nuclear trigger for the first time in decades, somehow the prospect of the planet blowing itself up in a matter of a few seconds seems a lot more real and visceral – scary if we are really being honest with ourselves – than the inexorable but more gradual warming of