Clean Energy Advocates Make Both Friends and Enemies

A reader comments on my recent report on China and renewable energy:

I enjoyed the article, but keep in mind that any of these lines can been
taken out of context and used against you. I assume that you have a
distribution of friends and enemies.

I respond:

Thanks, and yes, I’m sure I have many thousands of enemies. I’m not happy about that, but it seems to me “comes with the territory,” as they say. For example, if the oil companies don’t know who I am and what I’m trying to do to them, they’re really not as smart as I imagined. But I have no interest in flying underneath their radar – even if it were possible to do so.

Not to imply that I have more courage than the next guy, but I would note that, in large measure, the world is in its deplorable condition precisely because we tolerate it; most people simply are too scared to speak up and say, “This is bullcrap, and it’s not happening on my watch.”

A tiny fraction of 1% of the population is overtly standing up against injustice and tyranny, subjecting themselves to terrible hardship and danger — to a level far greater than I am. Those people are, in the words of author, speaker, and humanitarian Christopher Hedges, “the best of us.” But these brave souls are either ignored by the media or written off as crackpots — a fact that works very nicely for those who seek to control us.

Thanks again for writing. Glad you liked the report, and that I have you on the “friend” side.