In 1977 President Carter made a call to America to use more coal for energy

It is always good to have a sense of perspective and without it we may repeat mistakes of the past.

Below is the link to an address to the nation by President Carter in 1977. A Democrat and some would say progressive at that. And a genuinely good person as evidenced by his life path after presidency. So he is by no means evil or a shill for corporate interests.

And in his 1977 address to the nation he calls for significant increase in use of coal for America's energy needs. He also says that by the end of 1980s, the world is going to run out of oil and gas in the sense that from that point on annual production is going to be on decline. He predicts solar and wind will become significant sources of energy for the US in the medium term.

So I repeat - he was not an evil person - this was the best information available to the President of United States at the time and certainly consensus of 97% of scientists too.

And yet, it was massively wrong. Nobody "predicted" the US shale oil and gas boom. Solar and wind underperformed spectacularly - solar accounts for 0.15% of US energy needs today and wind for 1.5%.

If you want me to take the gospel of today without any critical thinking you are just not paying attention to history. It was at that time also that scientific consensus was that we are entering a new ice age.

So just stop telling me that I am a bad person or stupid just because I want to question your unexamined assumptions and your methodology for making predictions. Don't try to convince me that Leonardo Dicaprio, Al Gore or President Obama are privy to some higher truth. They are not. I am aware of how little I know. Are you?

Jimmy Carter: Address to the Nation on Energy - April 18, 1977
The American Presidency Project contains the most comprehensive collection of resources pertaining to the study of the President of the United States. Compiled by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters
PRESIDENCY.UCSB.EDU

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