Our economy does not want to transition to renewables. Its members, the banks and the fossil industry are fighting hard to slow down us closing down the last oil and gas well. They propose ways to waste renewables, by making Hydrogen (wastes 70%) and want to rebrand unrenewable and bank friendly energy types like gas and nuclear as part of the ‘green’ energy basket.
This concerted effort to delay the growth of renewables is increasing the risk of an unorderly transition. One in which war and famine and chaos are going to happen. Without good energy sources we all basically live in a fossil poor Balkan or Middle East state because all the wealth we have in the most developed countries comes from using the vast fossil energy reserves we managed to control.
Women are now often the people advocating for a fast transition. Greta Thunberg worries about the long term effects which are horrendous. Other parties have similar concerns. The dishonest claim of (allways pro fossil) right wing parties that they stand for economic growth is clear if you realize we can grow to 2500 times our current world economy on renewables, not on fossil fuels. The Left is near dead because it can’t reconcile its capture in the fossil economy with its desire to replace it with a renewables based one (“I want a job, but not one it this economy!”).
Women are prominent on every side of the fossil debate, but it seems there is a silent majority that does not like the idea of a transition or that has not really thought about the risks. We don’t have to mention all the women that want to parade Prada bags and their sycophants. This is not a generalization. You have other women that just want to take care of their families in the harsh environment banks create for everyone. There are many trying to reach some kind of station in the economy, which can cost them their conscience because they have to sell out to fossil interests. Very few women are left to do the right thing or drive the debate to where it needs to be “Why are we on this fossil ration and how do we safely transition?”
The risks are significant. Women are unsafe because crime is opportunistic, so we all behave nicely because we can’t get away with being assholes. Parts of society where less attention is given to how people behave are consequently more chaotic and dangerous. A good example of what would happen if fossil resources where suddenly cut of right now is Afganistan, where the men are indoctrinated not to empthize to much with women to begin with. Families sell daughters for food. Women are forced into temporary ‘marriages’ for protection or food. It’s turned from a place where women aspire to get educated to a hellhole in a few months time.
All the men in the West with SUVs and big homes and nice holidays are worth shit if the fossil energy flow stops. Then they turn out to be pretty useless, all the devices stop working, all the safety is gone even if they already choose to live in a gate community. Energy keeps us all safe and this is not being discussed at all, not even by women!
The recent gas shortages where a shock, and measures where taken (a deal that may have pitted Germany against Russia in order for Germany to gain Gas from the US (with Holland as a stepping stone)), but there is an end to the flexibility of the system. In the shadow of this calamity energy companies seemed to have upped checking the useage of gas, so they visited people at home to take a reading. Some women reported the person reading the meter came on to them. No proof of any wrong doing can be given but in an economy where banks put everyone on the edge a reading that cuts your gas bill by 1000,- Euro can be a nice gesture.
Consider the above an imaginary scenario, but I once saw a french movie (where else) about a woman that had to sleep with the owner of the camping she lived in order to get a new tank of gas. I guess it is clear where I am going. Women are not safe in an unordely transition to renewables. This should be a topic because that means many people, women and men, will want to hang on to the security of fossil fuel dominance (which the shortages showed to be pretty feeble). This makes sense but it can’t mean the fossil banking system does not force a rapid transition for society to be secured. But this is something they are openly fighting against.
So where are the men and women to point this danger out (besides me)?
P.S. Fossil/banking interests will allow society to deteriorate because they can always serve the elite. In fact they need a suffering group of people to scare the rest to stay in their system. They would be fine with women being abused, but you would not be allowed to empathizes with them. The revolutionary act for women is to fully accept the value of their intimacy and the right to choose how to use it, and to not try to define a norm where transactions of intimacy are looked down upon.