I have worked in the oil and gas industry multiple times in my career. It still represents a portion of of business for my current job. Being close to this business has taught me many things on both sides of what it is, what is has been, and what it might be. I've seen people lose their minds both for and against the industry, and I have to say they are both right to an extent.

The problem is blaming the companies for delivering exactly what we as the consumers are demanding. The collective "we" is often the problem. We all want cheap and clean energy. Nobody wants to harm the planet. But we all demand things that do all the harm. We want our stores filled with things energy gives us. We want a life that is filled with energy driven conveniences. We love the speed of the energy that makes all these happen. From the foods we enjoy to shelter we need to the electricity that every single thing uses, we demand it all. My analogy is fast food. It wouldn't exist if people didn't demand it. Yet it is everywhere - just like carbon based energy.

Clean energy has been a growing portion of the pie, and it will probably continue to do so. But our hunger for energy grows faster than it can be replaced with clean energy. Our ever increasing populations grow almost as fast as we can find new dirty energy plus create new clean energy. And clean energy has its own set of issues to create and maintain, some of which are just as bad as carbon energy.

The only real solution I see is for the world to use less energy. But that means that all of these things that we enjoy will become restricted, difficult to obtain, and/or impossible to afford. Or else the world's population will be sacrificed in reaching the goal...and most likely it will be a combination of them both. And talking about actively managing a natural population decline is a real problem for some people to accept. The impact of a materially contracting population to the world's economic systems would be devasting. Every market and business relies on growth, and killing it off would mean the end of market stability.

So my conclusion is that it's a mess. One that there are no easy answers to remedy. We may be forced to address them eventually, but for now things will just roll along as they always have been - until the price of all of it gets too high - one way or another.

Whatever happened to your friend with the stalker problem?

Robyn VIP (8132649) wrote:Whatever happened to your friend with the stalker problem?

Unfortunately, he found someone more open to his strangeness to fixate on. My friend is moving soon and I told her dad to sign the lease and showed her how to lock down her social media to friends and family - ONLY. The best way to avoid attention is to never be seen......

I too work in the oil and gas industry, and like you see a lot of nonsense coming from all sides of the spectrum. I believe for all of us to move forward, we need to think outside the box and be more open to the opinions of others. There truly is no hard right or hard left in this situation, and the infighting only creates division and slows down positive progress.