It’s a sad fact that most people are more concerned about money than just about anything else. At least, that’s how it is in America, where we have bought into the idea that wealth makes a person valuable.
It makes sense then to expect most Americans to do the right thing only when it benefits them financially. I can understand this mentality. For example, when someone struggles to feed, clothe and house a family, you can hardly blame them for having a single-minded focus on money. The problem in this capitalistic country is that people with enough money to support themselves and their families are still greedy for more.
Corporate America sacrifices people for profits
We have a dark and troubled history of allowing corporations to make money at the expense of the health and welfare of our citizens.
The Sackler family, who owned Perdue Pharma, made much of their fortune pushing the lie that Oxycontin is not addictive. Then there are the Murdochs. Though they are originally from Australia, no family has done more to destroy Americans’ faith in democracy by allowing Trump to use FOX to push the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
And let’s not forget Philip Morris and the decades of research proving that smoking causes cancer and which was denied by tobacco industry executives because they couldn’t bear to lose the exorbitant income they derived from manufacturing cigarettes filled with chemicals (including arsenic) that were designed to make users addicted to ensure continued profits. And they are still doing it.
But by far, the biggest people-killing profit machine is the fossil fuel industry. The recent destruction of Lahaina in Maui, the rampant wildfires in Canada, and the rising sea levels in Florida are all attributed to climate change caused largely by our inability to curb our use of fossil fuels.
Unlike smoking, taking drugs, or watching people tell lies that undermine democracy, none of us can escape the damage done by polluting our environment. There is no safe place where the air is untainted, the sea is free of oil from spills, and the temperature is not changing in response to our failure to protect the planet.
So how do we promote clean energy in a country where making money from fossil fuels has been baked into our culture? Perhaps the answer is in making profits from clean energy so great that even the staunchest conservatives will invest in it.
What if profits from clean energy could exceed profits from fossil fuels?
According to the New York Times, we are quickly reaching the point where investing in our future might be as financially rewarding as investing in our destruction.
Fifteen years ago, solar panels, wind turbines and battery-powered vehicles were widely viewed as niche technologies, too expensive and unreliable for mainstream use.
But clean energy became cheap far faster than anyone expected. Since 2009, the cost of solar power has plunged by 83 percent, while the cost of producing wind power has fallen by more than half. The price of lithium-ion battery cells fell 97 percent over the past three decades.
Today, solar and wind power are the least expensive new sources of electricity in many markets, generating 12 percent of global electricity and rising. This year, for the first time, global investors are expected to pour more money into solar power — some $380 billion — than into drilling for oil.
The climate is changing, but so is the landscape for investing. ESG funds are growing at rates commensurate with non-ESG funds, and more and more financial institutions are adding them to their portfolios.
According to Capital Group, while there is less robust, long-term data for ESG funds, the “greenwashing” that has been prevalent in the past and caused many to avoid ESG funds has been diminishing. With increased focus on ESG, standards can be expected to improve, and reporting will become more robust over time.
What’s more, with the Biden administration’s focus on using key areas of our infrastructure to promote electric vehicle use, enhance our power grid with more clean energy sources, and bring chip-making to America so we are not at the mercy of China for the electronics needed to produce electric vehicles, we are unquestionably moving in the right direction.
This year, for the first time, global investors are expected to pour more money into solar power — some $380 billion — than into drilling for oil.
What about Republicans who think being “woke” is a bigger problem than climate change?
The thing about culture wars is they rely on rhetoric instead of reality. You can push a thing only so far if reality contradicts the rhetoric. Republicans can ridicule climate activism as “woke,” but when it provides jobs and investment opportunities, the rhetoric won’t be able to overshadow the reality for long.
The shift is already occurring in Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, where clean energy businesses are thriving, and it’s starting to affect local politics.
Two clean energy businesses in Oklahoma, Solar Power of Oklahoma and Francis Energy (an electric vehicle start-up), are changing how Oklahomans think.
“We have a tremendous sense of pride in our history,” said Dewey F. Bartlett Jr., the Republican former mayor of Tulsa who was an oil and gas executive but now helps recruit clean energy companies to the region. “But we also understand that energy is energy, whether it is generated by wind, steam or whatever it might be.”
When J.W. Peters, an Oklahoma contractor, began installing solar panels, he was near financial ruin. Today he employs over 60 people and is bringing in nearly $20 million in annual sales.
Peters admitted that his state has always been “an oil and gas state.” But over time, he’s been able to sway opinion toward clean energy.
“The environmental benefits are nice,” he said, “but most people are doing this for the financial opportunity.”
Clean energy brings good jobs
For the working person trying to support a family, nothing matters more than the ability to bring home a steady paycheck.
About two-thirds of the new investment in clean energy is in Republican-controlled states, where policymakers have historically resisted renewables. But with each passing month, the politics seem to matter less than the economics.
In Houston, Texas, there are still over 500 companies profiting from oil and gas. But there are also over 130 companies now providing solar and wind energy products.
In Arkansas, the state is planning a solar farm to help power a steel plant that is planning a $3 billion upgrade. This shift is expected to provide an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases for the industry.
With every new clean energy business, there are jobs. Good jobs. Jobs that won’t become obsolete any time soon.
Other wealthy nations are following the U.S.’s lead
The European Union generated more than one-fifth of its electricity from clean energy in 2022. Even China, one of the world’s biggest polluters, is now becoming “a global leader for renewable power.”
We still have a long way to go, but we are finally trending in the right direction. And there is good reason to think this will continue.
We may never be able to convince staunch Republicans that we owe our planet the stewardship we’ve failed to provide in the past. We may never win an argument about whether climate change is caused by humans. But maybe we don’t have to.
When it comes to finding a way to support a family and invest in their financial future, clean energy is a clear winner.
Forget the culture wars — the economy is the number one issue for all Americans. And that is a reality even a crazy person can understand.