The populist right loves to hate on the climate crisis narrative.
But even if we overlook the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels, these guys really need to update their perspective in the light of the latest (spring 2026) shenanigans in the middle east.
The populist right is down to two choices now: either burn our treasure to dominate the middle east by force of arms, or else commit to the transition away from fossil fuels.
The third option of western oil independence is a mirage: US shale production will fail to live up to its rosy estimates, and even if it did, it still only delays rather than avoids the terminal decline of western fossil fuel production.
Hormuz may be the current flashpoint, and Iran in the cross-hairs. But as with all western adventurism in the middle east, every person killed by a US or Israeli bomb is another family that will hate the west for a generation. In the new era of drone warfare, every petrochemical site (and AI data centre) in the middle east has become a military target. The level of military commitment needed to keep the oil flowing will crush western government budgets.
Already the Europeans want nothing to do with it, and even the US is faltering on its resolve to keep Russian oil out of world markets.
The sooner the west removes its dependence on the inter-tribal warfare of the middle east the better.
My solar panels are looking like a sweeter deal every day.