By Sonali Kolhatkar, OtherWords.org
The war on Iran has caused the biggest oil supply disruption in history, as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falters.
Taken together with this year’s invasion of Venezuela, home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and the Trump administration’s subsequent cutting off of oil sales to Cuba — potentially its next military target — we are witnessing how the race for fossil fuel resources is compromising global peace and stability.
Oil prices have swung wildly, and impacts may be felt in the fertilizer and food sectors too. According to Andy Rowell, an editor with Oil Change International, “everything is so interlinked because we’re so dependent on fossil fuels.”
But what if we weren’t so dependent on fossil fuels? Unlike oil and gas, renewable energy cannot be stockpiled. It must be used near where it is produced, making it decentralized.
“The fact that renewable energy is decentralized is probably one of the most threatening things for a sort of near-autocratic regime because you can’t control it,” says Rowell. “And the power lies with the communities and the people who are generating that electricity.”
If our electricity grids ran on renewable energy, and if vehicles transitioned from guzzling gas to running on solar and wind-powered electricity, leaders like Trump would be less able to wreak the sort of havoc we’re experiencing today. That would mean fewer wars and less economic disruption for Americans and people all over the world.
At the same time as the global economy falters, nations are experiencing full-blown climate change, including in the United States. There are record-breaking back-to-back cold fronts on the East Coast, an unprecedented heat wave on the West Coast and catastrophic flooding in Hawaii.
A global transition to renewable energy would offer the world a chance at a different future — one without the constant fear of supercharged hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heatwaves and blizzards.
Instead of making such an energy transition, President Donald Trump is turning back the clock on progress.
For example, the White House recently offered to pay French energy giant TotalEnergies $1 billion to not develop offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean. The company had purchased leases to develop wind energy under the Biden administration, but now — at Trump’s behest — will develop gas projects in Texas instead.
“It’s completely nonsensical that you’re paying an oil and gas company a huge amount of American taxpayers’ money, that’s hard-earned money,” says Rowell. Trump has essentially been enacting the oil industry’s agenda since he took office. According to Rowell, “he consults with the oil industry, and he’s funded by the oil industry and colludes with the oil industry.”
China, by contrast, has taken the logical step to transition toward renewable energy. Although it has stockpiled some oil and gas, the country’s reduced dependence on fossil fuels has made it less vulnerable to the disruptions of oil supplies caused by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.
Other nations like South Korea are also moving forward on transitioning away from oil. And some smaller nations, such as Denmark and Djibouti, are on track to fully transition away from oil by 2030 and 2035, respectively.
Rowell says “it would be logical to seize this moment and to wean our economies off our fossil fuel addiction and to do a just transition to renewable energy.” Indeed, it’s what the global climate justice movement has been calling on for decades.
Not only would it be good for the planet. It would also shift power away from big global corporations and politicians and put it back in the hands of local communities.
Sonali Kolhatkar is host and executive producer of Rising Up With Sonali, an independent, subscriber-based syndicated TV and radio show. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org. Banner photo: A helicopter lands on the flight deck of a destroyer during Operation Epic Fury (NAVCENT Public Affairs, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
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