Former White House Chief of Staff (and potential 2028 presidential candidate) Rahm Emanuel is associated with the phrase, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” His point was to turn voters’ short-term fears into long-term political gain.
But with a gallon of gasoline costing an average of more than $4 in early April, the environmental movement’s normal deafening chorus has become a dull murmur — even in the run-up to Earth Day, their holiest holiday. With the world in the grip of an energy crisis, the relative silence from climate groups is an admission that their beliefs are not a solution.
Take California Governor Gavin Newsom. Last July, he declared that his state’s economic growth is “not coming despite clean energy, but because of clean energy.” Now he acknowledges his government’s role in “responsibly increasing oil production” in a press release.
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Here are three examples of changing climate politics and their implications for the future.
Demand for electric vehicles remains low
During the Biden administration, the push to push consumers into electric vehicles was everywhere. At the federal level, tax credits of $7,500 were distributed. California implemented mandates requiring 100% of new cars and light trucks sold to qualify as “zero emissions” by 2035.
In June 2022, as gasoline prices soared, then-Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) announced that “it didn’t matter how high” the cost of gas was because she was driving an electric car.
How times (and the numbers) have changed. In 2024, the Big Three automakers in Stabenow’s home state lost a combined $52 billion on electric vehicles — more than their entire combined net profit.
Remember when then-President Joe Biden traveled to Michigan for a photo with Ford’s new F-150 Lightning all-electric truck? Faced with declining demand, Ford stopped production of the Lightning last year, noting that “the American consumer is speaking clearly.”
Indeed they are. A recent one Wall Street Journal The story described “largely empty and money-losing” EV manufacturing factories in the Rust Belt as part of “America’s messy breakup with electric vehicles.” Even if consumer interest in electric cars increases, as some analysts expect, the politicians’ response is the right indication.
Communist Cuba is saved by Russian oil
The conflict in Iran has overshadowed the sad situation of the people of Cuba. Amid more than sixty years of misery under a communist regime, the lights have literally gone out since the January removal of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Cut off from cheap oil from its socialist-sympathizing neighbor, Cuba has plunged into a humanitarian crisis. The New York Times documented patients suffering or dying in hospitals without power, and ambulances parked because drivers can’t find gas.
Cuba relies on oil and gas for more than 90 percent of its electricity, compared to just two percent on renewables. The situation became so dire that President Trump – often vilified by his critics for a perceived lack of empathy – allowed a Russian oil tanker to reach Havana, noting that “they have to survive.”
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Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are very few environmentalists in the absence of basic humanitarian needs.
American energy dominance has softened the blow
While the current high gas prices are painful, countries that are more energy dependent than the United States are feeling the pressure. In March, the Philippines switched to four-day work weeks. Slovenia became the first country in the European Union to ration fuel. Thousands of petrol stations across Australia, which get 90% of their fuel from the Middle East, ran out of fuel.
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It’s a different story here at home, where US crude imports from the Persian Gulf have fallen to their lowest level in four decades, while domestic production has increased.
Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas prices, responsible for nearly half (43%) of our country’s electricity, have remained relatively flat, while in Europe and Asia they have risen roughly 70%.
President Trump deserves a lot of credit for his renewed focus on American energy dominance.
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This Earth Day, the climate movement will once again raise small shouts, but the uproar is a far cry from those of recent years. There are far fewer hyperbolic claims that “the world will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change,” as U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared in 2019.
International affairs exposes the inextricable link between energy and national security, a lesson that most reasonable Americans inherently understand. The climate movement knows that even at this critical moment, their brand of politics has been defeated by common sense.
