Sunak’s gift to Putin, if oil didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it, Postrel talks fabrics, and Lynx rufus

New pieces in The Hill & RCE, Postrel on fabrics and civilization, & another visit by a Lynx rufus 

Another full week. I am as busy as I have been in my 30-plus years in journalism, but I will also say I’ve never had as much fun as I’m having now. I’m having great fun with the Power Hungry Podcast. The “about a minute” videos that we are putting on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok are gaining traction. And I’m able to write about the things that interest me and get my articles published quickly. In addition, my speaking business continues to grow. I am on track to do more than 40 engagements this year and I’ve already confirmed five speeches for 2023. I am a very fortunate man. It’s also a great joy to see Lorin prospering. She has begun teaching ceramics at The Contemporary Austin, which is one of the most prestigious art schools in central Texas. It’s fantastic to see her land such a good job and to be able to teach ceramics, an art form that she has loved since she was a teenager. You can see her work on Instagram. As you can see, she's a real master of the craft/art. Her handle is  @lrbclay. She also has a cool website.
 
I was also pleased this week to reconnect with my friend, Andy Morriss, a lawyer and economist who has written prolifically about environmental issues and free markets. Among his many jobs, Andy is a senior fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman. Andy is also on the faculty at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M. He invited me to speak to his Quantitative Methods class. As he explained it, the purpose of the graduate-level class is to get the students to see and understand how numbers and data can be manipulated. The caption for the lecture I gave yesterday was “Energy Realism, Europe’s Energy Crisis, & The Future of Hydrocarbons.” Although we had a few audio problems, there were a lot of good questions and the class seemed to like my presentation. I also had a few media hits this week including talking to my friends Ann and Phelim on The Ann & Phelim Scoop about the energy crisis in Europe. I was also on Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson talking about fertilizer supplies in Europe. But one of the biggest highlights of the week, (aside from getting to see Michael and Bethany for a few minutes) was the repeat visit from the bobcat. More on that below. Now to business. Four items today. 

• The Hill: Rishi Sunak’s anti-fracking gift to Putin

• RCE: If oil didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it

• Postrel talks fabrics and innovation

• The bobcat comes back

I took the photo of the bobcat above at about 11 am on November 2, 2022. 

On Wednesday, The Hill published my piece on hydraulic fracturing in Britain. I began:

• Napoleon is credited with saying “never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.” That line comes to mind after last week’s decision by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reimpose a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Sunak reversed the policy change made by his predecessor, Liz Truss, who, in one of her first moves in office, repealed the ban on the process that allows drillers to extract oil and gas from shale formations.

• Sunak’s fracking ban is a gift to Vladimir Putin and a disaster for British consumers and industry. Indeed, Sunak is consigning Britain to high energy prices and dependence on imports for decades to come.

I concluded:

• Britain isn’t at war today but it faces a similar crisis. By reimposing the ban on fracking, Sunak is sending a signal to oil and gas drillers and heavy industry that Britain will not use its domestic resources and instead will rely on imported energy. Making matters worse, he’s doing it at the very moment that Britain is losing automobile manufacturing to China and all of Europe is preparing for a long and difficult winter.

• Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is not going according to plan. But Sunak’s ban on fracking in Britain must be giving the Russian strongman a bit of a smile.

Again, here’s a link.

I used this slide in the piece I published today in Real Clear Energy and in the lecture I gave yesterday to Andy Morriss's class at Texas A&M 

This morning, I was pleased to have my piece on Just Stop Oil published in one of my favorite publications: Real Clear Energy. I began: 

• Watching the recent desecration of some of Europe’s most famous paintings by vandals affiliated with the group Just Stop Oil has been both horrifying and perplexing. While the vandals claim they are acting to save the planet, the reality is they are only demonstrating their ignorance of the fundamental realities of modern civilization and the substance that drives our economy. Love it or hate it, oil is a miracle substance. Without it, our economy would come to a grinding halt. Indeed, as I first wrote 12 years ago in my book, Power Hungry, “if oil didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it.”

• The importance of oil to modern society is hard to overstate. As industry analyst Art Berman likes to say, “oil is the economy.” According to the Energy Information Administration, “petroleum products accounted for about 90% of the total U.S. transportation sector energy use” in 2021. 

I concluded:

• The punchline here is obvious: The vandals at Just Stop Oil, aren’t just committing vandalism, what they are advocating would result in the destruction of modern society. And it’s remarkable how casually they are doing so. In a YouTube video posted on November 1, two unnamed young British women from Just Stop Oil declare that the group will “pause its campaign of civil resistance” to give policymakers time to give in to their demands and halt all drilling for oil and gas. And if the government doesn’t agree to their demands by today, November 4, they said Just Stop Oil will step up their hooliganism and disruption. 

• I watched the video several times. The two women claim they want a “livable future for all, without oil.” But the tone of their voices -- and their demands -- sound like what you might hear from members of a cult, or kidnappers, or a terrorist organization. And come to think of it, those are all pretty apt descriptors for Just Stop Oil. 

Again, here’s a link. 

Subscribe to this "news" letter. Click here

Virginia Postrel: the history  of fabric is a "story of innovation"        

This week’s podcast is a bit of a divergence from the guests who have dominated the show over the past few months. My guest is Virginia Postrel, a California-based journalist who has written four books, including her most recent one, The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made The World. Before going further, let me be clear: I loved her book. I have had an affinity for fabric for a long time and her book is marvelously written and is filled with wonderful stories. In this episode, Virginia talks about why the history of fabric and civilization is a “story of innovation,” the mechanized Italian silk mills that predated the Industrial Revolution by two centuries, cotton’s history and dominance in today’s clothing, and ongoing advances in synthetic fabrics. We also talked a good bit about the tragic life of Wallace Carothers, the almost-unknown inventor of nylon. That bit was of particular interest to me as I can remember how revolutionary nylon was when it came on the market when I was a child.  This episode was recorded on September 23, 2022. The audio and transcript are available here. And, as always, the episode is on YouTube.
 

Subscribe to this "news" letter. Click here

The Bobcat Comes Back     

On Wednesday morning, while recording a podcast, I looked out the window of my office and saw a bobcat (lynx rufus) walking toward the house. (Spoiler alert: I was interviewing Matt Ridley. That episode will be out next week.) Upon seeing the animal, I paused the recording with Ridley and quickly went outside to shoot the photo just above and the one at the top of this email. As I’ve mentioned, our property backs up to the Barton Creek Greenbelt and we’ve seen plenty of wildlife over the 22 years we've lied in our house. But bobcats are, well, a special breed of cat. This is the third time I’ve seen a bobcat in our backyard. I don’t know if it’s the same one. This specimen didn’t seem overly perturbed by my appearance, which makes me think it's used to being close to humans. In any case, it’s always thrilling to see a bobcat and this time was no exception. Here’s an entry from Texas Parks & Wildlife:

• The Bobcat is a medium-sized, reddish brown or grayish cat. Its ears usually have small tufts at the tips, and its fur is longer on the sides of its head than on the rest of its body, forming a ruff. They have a short tail, long legs, and large feet. The reclusive Bobcat is active largely at night, although they frequently leave cover and begin hunting long before sundown. In hilly country, their presence can often be detected by their habit of dropping their feces on large rocks on promontories or ridges. Also, like the Mountain Lion, the males make scrapes-small piles of leaves, sticks, and so forth on which they urinate-along their travel routes, but these scrapes are smaller. They den in crevices in canyon walls, in boulder piles, or in thickets. The dens can be readily recognized by the strong odor emanating from them. Expert at climbing trees, Bobcats seek refuge in them when available. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals and birds... Bobcats live in a variety of habitats, but they favor rocky canyons or outcrops when they are available. Otherwise, they choose thickets for protection and den sites. These cats are highly adaptable, and in most places have been able to thrive in spite of increasing habitat loss due to human settlement.

Have a good weekend. 

Want to help?  

1. Forward this email to your friends and colleagues. Tell them to subscribe. It's free! 
2. Subscribe to the Power Hungry Podcast.
3. Rent or buy Juice on iTunes or Amazon Prime.
4. Buy A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations and give it a positive review.
5. Follow me and Juice on Twitter.
6. Follow me on TikTok: @pwrhungry
7. Need a speaker for your conference, class, or webinar? Ping me.

Watch Juice

Juice: How Electricity Explains the World, is on most of the major streaming outlets, including Roku Channel. If you have a prime membership, you can watch it on Amazon Prime.