America’s carbon clash

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? In US energy issues today, the irresistible force is broad public support for more energy consumption; the immovable object, on the other hand, is elite opposition to that energy consumption, specifically hydrocarbons.

Four-fifths of American energy comes from fossil fuels, and so that accounts for a huge force of folks accustomed to driving their cars, heating their homes, and powering their workplaces by burning oil, natural gas or coal. Yet all that energy consumption — and the 5.2 billion or so metric tons of CO2 that it emits annually — is generating immovable opposition among green-influenced elites.

US public opinion is clear enough — it wants more energy, and more consumption. Last autumn, Gallup asked an open-ended question: ‘What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?’ A full 72 per cent cited economic problems, including 2 per cent who lamented high fuel prices. By contrast, an unmeasurably small number of Americans mentioned the environment, pollution, or scarcity of resources.

So why have energy concerns rated so low with the general public? The answer is simple: the public has concluded that energy is no longer a problem. Yes, for decades Americans have been schooled by their betters in ‘energy crisis’, ‘era of limits’, and ‘peak oil’. And yet in the past few years, a new wave of post-scarcity reality has washed over the nation. For example, Americans have recently been inundated with news of the potential of fracking and shale, and so now they are at least vaguely aware that they possess fossil-fuel reserves to match the rest of the world.