Climate’s Backdoor

                For a long time now, it’s been obvious that climate change means we have to give up our dependence on fossil fuels.  It is also obvious that the financial interests of the people who own and run the companies that supply this energy are at odds with the global need to find reliable sources of renewable energy.  What I think is less obvious is how the petro dollar has given rise to much of the political nihilism that is sweeping the world.  There are many reasons that this hyper-male, right wing political movement has taken hold, but one of the driving factors may be oil.

                The global network of oligarchs, many of them Russian, who control the fossil fuel economy have formed an international crime syndicate that promotes political instability.  They are not being driven by ideology or religion, just money.  Most, but not all, of this money is generated in the oil market.  They foster instability in democracies and democratic alliances so their financial interests can go unchecked.  They have no interest in the work of governments or the welfare of the people or the environment.  If the roads, schools and legal system are in decay, it just makes it easier to move through and around borders and institutions that would normally restrict their activities and limit the amount of money they could accumulate.  In their wake, are the remnants of functional democracies that are increasingly ruled by and exist for only the wealthiest of their citizens.

                Some of the figures in this cabal are American oil magnets, financiers and politicians.  They are aiding and abetting the extraction of wealth from this country and increasing the economic inequality that is choking our democracy.  In fact, they use their vast sums of money to elect puppet politicians and promote policy designed to tip the scales even more in their direction than they already are.  Trump is both a consequence and an agent of this movement.  Actions that make no sense viewed from the normal way we look at government and policy make perfect sense when viewed from the agenda of the new robber barons.  Sometimes they are connected to each other, and other times they are just operating in random but predictable synchronicity with each other.

                This is why renewable energy isn’t just an environmental imperative.  The decentralization of energy would be the single biggest threat to this international network of oligarchs.  If done properly, renewable energy is scalable.  It can break the global monopoly of the oligarchs and restructure the economic wealth in the world.  In fact, I think it is safe to say that only by breaking that monopoly can democracy become a sustainable option for the future.  We should move away from fossil fuels for the health of the planet, but we should do it with the realization that we can also regenerate democracy.  As long as we are tethered to the economy of oil, the distribution of wealth and resources will continue to undermine the environment and our politics.

                If there is a small bright spot in this dreary connection between oil and despotism – and that’s a big if – it’s that there are people in the Justice Department who have known about this network of oligarchs and their plans for a while now.  One of them is perhaps one of the leading experts on how they operate and how they are connected.  He knows the players and the tactics.  His name is Robert Mueller.