Wall Street Says Fossil Fuel Consumption Will Last Forever

Here’s an interesting article whose point is simple: the concept that our civilization will continue its current direction vis-à-vis energy and ultimately extract and burn the last molecule of fossil fuel from the Earth’s crust is “baked into” essentially all of Wall Street’s thinking and behavior with respect to the energy markets. 

If this is true, it explains why people look at me with blank stares when they ask me about Chevron or Conoco Phillips and I say that I’m bearish, based on the concept that the oil companies will eventually run out of the political clout that is necessary to let them continue to rape this planet and its people for their short-term profits. No one on Wall Street thinks that such a transformation is possible.  But I do.  And so do you.

I’m not sure exactly what will happen when these two realities come into conflict.  But we’ll find out over the coming years – a decade at the outside.  We love the idea of cheap energy as we enjoyed it in the late 20th Century.  But that grand layer of profligate waste and negligence is gone forever.

How will we adjust?  Again, I don’t know the details.  But adjust, we will.  We won’t be burning coal in the year 2050, not because we care about the quality of life for our fellows here on our home planet, but because, if we continue with our old ways, the planet, in the words of the late great George Carlin, will have shaken us off like a dog shakes off its fleas.