Here we are approximately forty-five years down the line, from this writer's and many others’ pov, and in order to divert attention from the as yet existential threat that hydrocarbon fuels pose, come collective pat's on the back for effectively securing millions of tonnes of concrete to shore up coastal defences to temporarily halt rising sea levels and the ferocity of storms threatening low-lying island nations, or giant sky curtains to protect the Caribbean against cat-5 hurricanes, or for mountainous nations like Pakistan now prone to truly Quanic great floods to build gigantic walls against those floods between Himalayan peaks, akin to a Christo & Jeanne Claude installation.
To top the 'finger in the dyke' mentality of what's broke and will never be fixed is the notion from the Saudis that natural gas is no longer colourless but now green, and following that indisputable logic should be regarded as a renewable source of energy sold to help, amongst all else maybe, premature babies of the future to breath in their incubators, or the elderly to live out their final days in air conditioned splendour with an ocean view...in the developing world of course there are no such possible interventions or horizons.
Stop this cynicism, this sarcasm, this pessimism I hear you say…do I?
Who chooses these people who negotiate the continuance of humanity's pulse against the hydrocarbon-dollar on our behalf?...I didn't!
Did you?