More Discussion with Robert Rapier on Climate Change
I just had a very interesting phone conversation with Robert Rapier, one of the world’s most senior observers of the energy industry. We discussed the piece I wrote the other day called Energy, the Environment and Climate Change, which I based on his article: The Danger of Misinformation about Climate Change. He made a few points that are difficult to argue:
First, there needs to be less rancor about existence and scope of climate change. Scientists with legitimate, unbiased information should have the opportunity to present their findings, regardless of what those findings are.
Again, it’s hard to disagree with this, as long as what you’re NOT talking about is pseudo-science on climate change proffered by those with an agenda. When people realize that they’re being told lies (and yes, this has happened, and continues to happen) they get upset; I’m sympathetic to that.
Robert noted that the U.S. needs a managed transition away from oil. Environmentalists who want to rush this are actually shooting themselves in the foot; if we wind up with a country dependent on oil that isn’t there, and everything stops, it will put a spear through the whole environmental movement.
Perfectly true. In fact, all we’re asking for is a national energy policy that actually moves us away from fossil fuels. But we simply do not have that now. We need a radical departure to our corrupt and irresponsible business-as-usual approach to energy.
Robert rejects my analogy that the U.S. is no more justified in using other countries’ energy consumption in not changing our own than I am in littering because other people do. Instead, he suggests this: the U.S. consumes 10 times as much oil per capital as China and 15 times as much per capita as India; for us to cut our oil consumption and use that as a demonstration to the rest of the world is like a 400-pound man losing 10 pounds and using that weight-loss technique as an example for how a 170-pound man (like me) should lose 10 pounds.
That’s interesting; I’m not sure on this one. It’s clear that India and China have different sorts and levels of challenges and opportunities than we do here in the U.S. Exactly what needs to happen in the international setting is critically important, but it’s debatable.
I guess the only thing we have going for us as a species is that all of us, regardless of our nationality or our socio-economic class, want to survive. The same forces of reason that keep us from starting nuclear wars and now causing us to share an understanding of the imperative for us – all of us – to become smarter about our use of energy.
As always, I carry a deep respect for Robert’s viewpoints, and I thank him for a great conversation.
