Climate Change? Nahhh ...

"Big Coal" and "Big Oil" sell a commodity to a world that has insatiable demand for what they are selling. ... well, not as much for "Big Coal" as it did even a decade ago, but that is because cheaper sources of energy (those "greedy" consumers trying to save money) that burn cleaner (as our level of knowledge about hydrocarbons has expanded that has become more important, and all things equal people will choose the cleaner source) supplanted it, most notably Natural Gas. ... if hydrocarbons are destroying the planet it would need to be outlawed too, anyhow -- it's a matter of a small degree of emmissions in the grand scheme of things.

People go into business to produce things for which there is demand and to profit from selling those things. "Big Coal" and "Big Oil" are no different from any other businesses, all of which are "greedy" and "profit driven." YOU are "greedy" and "profit driven," every time you exhange your labor for a wage.

Which is why I find rhetoric like yours so tired. Oil DEMAND has GROWN worldwide decade by decade. These companies are not doing something immoral by simply selling something that others rely on more than any other products in their lives. The absurdity of it is, that when the demand for their product is way outpacing the supply and the price goes up, the same people go from, "How dare they sell people that," to, "How dare they sell it for so much. They should be selling it for less than people are willing to pay them!"

Over the last century and a half standards of living in the U.S. (and the world) have increased dramatically on the back of a technology boom that has required huge energy demands. Joe Manchin -- or whatever simplistic narrative of a villain you attach yourself to -- didn't create that world. And it's a world people are not going to give up easily, because the 2022 version of our lives is way better than the 1922 version of our lives which was way better than the 1822 version. Just having this conversation with each other -- the mode we are using -- is awesome. People -- including you, I'd guess -- are not very eager to give up all the little things that require energy (which is releasing hydrocarbons), and even if you could find alternative energy sources that produce fewer hydrocarbons and produce enough of it to power the demand, they are not going to easily accept a much higher cost than the alternative. ... which means they can afford fewer things.

Which is why if you take Joe Manchin out of the Senate and replace him with someone else who gets your seal of approval, we STILL have a untenable situation where it's a discussion about BAD choices, not "Here is the fix." Really bad choices that people are not going to embrace quickly. On top of that, we don't even know the exact scope of the problem with enough clarity, or the most effective ways to deal with it. And that is before we even get to the costs people will bear if we choose a set of solutions and mandate people's behaviors. Most people intuitively think in terms of benefits RELATIVE TO costs.

The energy sources required to fuel the lives we all live in 2022, produce hydrocarbons that are unbdoubtedly affecting our planet. But this is not some minor point, where getting Joe Manchin to be enlightened the way you are, changes much of anything. The time savers, sources of entertainment, productivity enhancers, life extenders, etc. that we all take for granted only exist BECAUSE we harnessed those energy sources to power the technological innovations.

I'm not sure what exactly it is that you think we should be doing from the platitudes you threw out there. Should we outlaw the products that "big coal" and "big oil" sell? And do you really think it's "greedy" that they fight any talk of that? And the reason they have businesses that generate profits is because there is heavy demand for what they are selling. What do you say to people whose standards of living will have to move in the opposite direction of where it has gone for the last 130, 150 years and are eager customers of "Big Oil" and "Big Coal"? What if they aren't willing to make the same choices you are?

There's no right answer to those questions. Everyone is going to differ in their sensiibilities. ... Everyone dialing back their thermostat by a few degrees has an effect. Let's do the PSAs in the U.S. and hope people get on board. But with the population growth, industrialization and catch-up of developing nations in terms of their energy demands, you are talking about sticking fingers in dams. As I said, energy usage worldwide has been growing. Do you have anything else? Because I don't see "Big Oil" or "Big Coal" demonization as anything except the same tired nonsense. People who do that are trying to create simplistic villains, and they do it because they are faced with something where there isn't an easy answer of some sort. It does a huge disservice to any conversation, though.