When I was in my 20s I was in a state of rebellion against my Christian upbringing, the consumerist culture, and the pointless violence of the Vietnam War. I was looking for alternative ways of understanding the world when I found a copy of Tao Teh King in an Iowa City bookstore. Lao Tzu’s very first sentence hooked me: “Nature can never be completely described, for such a description of Nature would have to duplicate Nature.” The book advised a modest way of life emulating nature’s way. For years, Lao Tzu would be my constant companion.

Climate change is a "wicked problem"—a term introduced by design theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber to underscore the complexities of planning and policy. As much as we'd like to believe that we can "solve" it using #technofixes, we just can't. Let me explain. There is no way to solve climate change without sacrificing something that society loves, thereby generating more problems. #Degrowth would reduce emissions, but would throw people out of work. Renewables also reduce emissions, but they require depleting minerals like #lithium.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting disruption of multiple global supply chains, policy think tanks have increasingly adopted the term #polycrisis to signify humanity’s destabilized status quo. 🧵 Regardless what we call it, this will be a time that calls for new attitudes and behaviors. Strategies that seemed to make sense before the #polycrisis, such as efforts to grow national economies, will need to be replaced by different ones, such as efforts to build resilience.

As daunting as they are, the financial, political, and material challenges to the energy transition don’t exhaust the list of potential barriers. Climate change itself is also hampering the energy transition—which, of course, is being undertaken to avert climate change.🧵 During the summer of 2022, China experienced its most intense heat wave in six decades. At the same time, a drought-induced power crisis forced Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., the world’s top battery maker, to close manufacturing plants in China’s Sichuan province.

Renewable energy isn’t replacing fossil fuel energy—it’s adding to it.

Despite all the renewable energy investments and installations, actual global greenhouse gas emissions keep increasing. That’s largely due to economic growth: While renewable energy supplies have expanded in recent years, world energy usage has ballooned even more—with the difference being supplied by fossil fuels.