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In 1971, jazz-funk, proto-rap artist Gil Scott Heron released, “The revolution will not be televised.” It was intended as a wake-up call to those who would leave the heavy lifting to others and simply watch the change they desired unfold on television. Heron later asserted that revolution begins when people change their minds. Only then will they change the way they live, and the transformation will not be broadcast on television.
Imagine you're a Big Oil executive with all your money and power. You definitely don't want to lose any of it, not even a little bit. You've been winning the fight for decades, keeping the profits rolling in and the pollution rolling out. Despite global agreements to wind down carbon pollution and fossil fuel production, demand increases endlessly. You are in control.
But suddenly, cracks begin to appear everywhere. People around the world are buying EVs, heat pumps and solar panels. Builders are thinking about better insulation and energy efficiency. Solar, wind and battery storage keep getting cheaper and the technology steadily improves.
Is this the beginning of a revolution or an uprising that will be easily squashed?
The United States just elected a pro-oil Republican regime that promises to set its sights on increasing oil and natural gas production. The intergovernmental COP process created to foster global agreements prescribing the wind down of the fossil fuel industry is failing, overrun by the industry it was intended to regulate. Tragic geopolitical events are escalating, distracting the public, generating fear and perpetuating oil demand.
This is the depressing backdrop to the story of our era, but all is not lost. The fossil fuel power brokers will not be saved by war and fascism. The influence of disinformation will weaken. The affordability crisis and the promise that fossil fuel brings wealth to everyone will be recognized as a con job when the cycle of recession and economic crisis returns.
Amidst the gloom, renewable energy and electrification are among the many lights shining through the cracks of a decaying system. Countries like China, Norway and others in the European Union are investing heavily in clean electricity. In 2023, Carbon Brief reported that wind and solar generated electricity were the fastest growing energy sources in history and that trend continued in 2024 despite efforts by right-wing politicians to stop renewable energy growth.
Many countries, businesses and individuals are actively engaged in the electrification of industry, transport and heat. New electrification technology continues to disrupt global markets for gas-powered incumbents. For example, more than 280 million electric bikes, mopeds and scooters have hit the streets around the world,reducing global oil demand. Even OPEC is forecasting demand destruction over the next few years.
At the same time, activists are exposing the scale of deception the fossil fuel industry has been allowed to maintain since the seventies, when Gil Scott Heron’s music represented the emergence of rap and hip-hop. Lawsuits and legislation are piling up. The Global Climate Change Litigation database reveals the rapid increase in climate litigation in the last 10 years.
The barbarians are at the gate and their truth is breaching the walls of the existing power structure. Big Oil’s response to this pressure is telling. Industry leaders have abandoned appeasement and are wielding their power in an effort to defeat the forces of change.
Oil giants like Suncore are increasing their production targets for 2025. Provincial and federal governments are support this expansion.
BP, a company that once attempted to rebrand as “Beyond Petroleum,” recently abandoned its plans to cut oil and gas output by 2030. An American pipeline company has launched a $300 million dollar “strategic lawsuit against public participation” (SLAPP) lawsuit against Greenpeace for supporting pipeline protests.
Does this sound like an industry that is worried about the threat of social revolution? It is busily constructing the infrastructure that will lock us into a destructive energy system for another 20 to 30 years.
Big Oil is demonstrating the hubris of an organization that believes it's untouchable. Why eliminate methane leaks and capture CO2 if it will only add to capital and operating costs with no hope of return on investment? Capping production is unspeakable when demand is still growing. That’s not how corporations make money.
But change is emerging and the revolution will not be on Fox news, Facebook or X, formerly known as Twitter. The current situation is ripe for the people to demand change and storm the gates of power.
So get on your e-scooter and flaunt your freedom. Put solar panels on your homes and businesses and smile at people who continue to waste energy. Feel the lightness of being when you stop buying garbage products that you don't need and start fixing useful things when they break. Cast off your anxiety by joining others to march, dance and take action in the face of oppression.
These are our weapons, the kind that launch hope and happiness into a system that fosters greed, nihilism and destruction. Big Oil is furiously building its systems, but these can be turned into rusting assets that will drag them down. It all starts when we change our minds.
Rob Miller is a retired systems engineer, formerly with General Dynamics Canada, who now volunteers with the Calgary Climate Hub and writes on behalf of Eco-Elders for Climate Action.
Comments
Well said, and well timed commentary. Justin Trudeau resigned yesterday, opening up the national political field to change. Anything goes now.
Meanwhile, the rise of renewables is becoming even more relentless and continues to be blind to whomever may hold office anywhere in the world, even those who are commiting their jurisdictions to locking in oil, gas and coal. The only thing that matters is how hard and fast their downfall will be as the silent, unadvertised energy revolution continues on its merry way.
Let the rust begin.
The European transition is taking wing. The German trucking industry has discovered the economic advantage of electrified freight transport with savings in real world annual operating costs of battery-electric trucks over diesel in the mid to high five figure range. Moreover, e-trucks are more efficient and can pass diesel trucks straining up hills with ease, and the charging times dovetail well with Germany's mandated rest periods.
In addition, new charging stations are popping up quickly in well positioned rest areas offering both rapid and overnight charging with parking space, food outlets, showers and more on the Autobahn network and secondary highways. This is a new industry that is also generating its own solar and wind power and on-site grid battery storage banks next to charging facilities along the highways.
It is now estimated that e-truck sales will overtake diesel truck sales by 2029, just four years from now.
That scenario on the ground in the EU makes the fumes and political beligerance of the so called Freedom Convoy over here seem barbaric and symbolic of 19th Century industrial smog and immaturity.