Well, yes—but mostly no. Let’s be honest: there is no modern civilization—none that lets people claw their way up Maslow’s pyramid beyond the level of subsistence—without oil and gas. Sunshine and wind will not prop up welfare states, no matter how many fairy tales are spun. To claim otherwise isn’t optimism, it’s economic arson and a kind of slow-motion manslaughter.
But of course, the zealots don’t care. They would sooner see the planet collapse into smoke and ruin than suffer the indignity of being contradicted.
The bogeyman isn’t green energy—it’s the economic abyss yawning before us. And trust me: this slump will make every past crisis look like a picnic on the lawn. China’s course correction alone will tear a hole in the global balance sheet so vast it might as well be a black hole. And that’s only the opening act.
Whole regions will be forced to shrink back into something resembling sanity. Europe, naturally, is auditioning for the role of chief shrinker, trimming its future down to the bone. None of this bodes well—for oil, for gas, or for anything at all.