War has a way of bringing clarity: it can reveal the weaknesses in what we thought were strengths, and create opportunities for new growth. While the global oil & gas industry has long claimed to be a great stabilizing influence, the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine has clearly revealed the opposite. It’s becoming very clear that our reliance on fossil fuels has stoked political instability and nearly fractured our fragile economy, all the while continuing to destabilize our global climate. It’s time to recognize the facts, face the future, and begin our transition toward a renewable energy economy.
It seems that Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was, in part, motivated by the idea that the rest of the world — particularly central Europe — was too dependent on Russian oil & gas to be able to mount any significant resistance. Closer to home, we have seen the power that New Mexico’s oil & gas industry can wield in our own local politics. The industry’s lobbyists are adept at converting claims about their substantial tax payments and the number of jobs they provide into outsized influence on legislation. Reliance on the oil & gas industry makes our politics, and our lives, less stable.
In the weeks or so after Russian troops attacked Ukraine, the governments of many Western democracies began to impose special restrictions on supplies of Russian oil & gas. In response, the price of crude oil jumped more than 33%, stoking fears of continued inflation and shaking the foundations of the global economy. The rollercoaster of fossil-fuel prices has shaken our local economy, too. The state budget of New Mexico is reliant on revenues from the industry, which has put us at the mercy of the global market for oil and the whims of autocrats around the world — and increases the risk that we’ll have significant budget shortfalls that we can’t begin to predict, much less control.
Using these fossil fuels has introduced a new, existential risk to the world, as well: the undeniable impacts of global climate change, and the clear causal link to our reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources, mean that our reliance on oil & gas is making it harder to see a livable future on the planet.
Fortunately, we have a way out of these looming disasters: it’s time to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Clean energy infrastructure has been building up for decades, and continues to develop new, innovative, and increasingly efficient technologies that together can transform the energy industry — and all our lives. It can decentralize the production of energy, helping to stabilize the global political order. It can provide good new jobs and new sources of tax revenue. And it can help us to slow the progress of climate change, and mitigate the worst impacts of the changes already underway.
We applaud New Mexico’s Senator Martin Heinrich, who has recently taken a strong position on the future of our energy supply. It’s time for us to take the plunge on renewable energy, and commit to full electrification. Going “all-in” on the transition to a renewable energy economy now is the key to a secure, stable, and environmentally sustainable future.
