Climate, Energy, Morality, and How We Thrive as a Species on a Finite Planet

We tell ourselves stories to help us cope with existence, but too often we bend our stories to fit a misguided, destructive, and utterly unsustainable worldview.

In this revised audio version of a 2019 article I published in Medium, we begin with a tight shot on Venezuela and the Trump administration’s recent military action and claim to its oil. From there, we slowly pan back and consider the moral grounding of a civilization convinced of its “God-given” right to extract, destroy, and dominate, if it means there is more energy to burn.

We can find a better way to live, one based on our fundamental, biological morality.

Resources:

1. The Climate of Our Moral Character on Medium
2. Deliver Us From Evil: How Biology, Not Religion, Made Humans Moral
3. Greta Thunberg UN Speech Transcript
4. Politico: Energy secretary plans visit to Venezuela — but says Trump isn’t focused on its oil riches
5. CNBC: What Big Oil Executives Told Trump About Investing in Venezuela
6. Top 10 Countries with the Largest Confirmed Oil Reserves
7. Earthbound Podcast Home
8. GlobalWarmingisReal.com

This bonus episode features a short reading from my Thinking Out Loud section of my newsletter.

Is empathy a strength or a weakness? How do we respond to forces that hide behind masks and seek to coerce, intimidate, and terrorize? In the midst of the chaos, how do we make sense of living in a warming world?

There are lessons we can learn from the citizens of Minneapolis as they resist the masked men and their grasp at power, and from their efforts to maintain an unjust world, exemplifying the power of community, compassion, and empathy. These are the qualities that will lead us into a thriving future.

As Bad Bunny says, love is stronger than hate.

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What if the sun, the same star that’s powered life on Earth for billions of years, could finally free us from the fossil fuel stranglehold that’s choking our future?

That’s the question at the heart of this episode’s conversation with legendary climate activist and author Bill McKibben. In his latest book, Here Comes the Sun, McKibben delivers a message that's equal parts urgent and unexpectedly hopeful: after decades of fighting uphill against Big Oil, the economics of energy have fundamentally shifted, despite the rhetoric from vested interests and their bought-and-paid-for politicians.

In 2024, more than 90% of new electricity generation globally came from renewable sources. Solar and wind aren’t “alternative" energy anymore, say McKibben, they are the future, and they're already cheaper, cleaner, and increasingly more accessible than fossil fuels. But the window to capitalize on this epochal shift is narrow, and the fossil fuel industry knows it, which is why they’ve purchased political power to protect their dying business model.

McKibben doesn’t sugarcoat the climate crisis—he knows too much about the science for that. We've already locked in significant warming, and we won't stop short of 2 degrees Celsius. But he argues passionately that we're in a race to shave off every tenth of a degree we can, because each one represents 100 million people pushed out of livable climate zones.

My conversation with McKibben explores practical, real-world solutions that are scalable right now: heat pumps, induction cooktops, electric vehicles, and even balcony solar panels that renters can plug directly into their walls. From California’s grid running on over 100% renewable energy during peak hours to China’s EV revolution eating the world’s lunch while America’s political leaders serve it up on a silver platter, McKibben paints a picture of a world in transition.

This isn’t a conversation about distant doom or abstract policy—it’s about the tangible, human-scale changes we can make right now, and the massive structural shifts already underway that prove rapid transformation is possible. McKibben’s clear-eyed honesty about where we are, combined with his grounded optimism (though he says he isn’t an optimist) about what we can still do, offers a roadmap illuminated by the sun itself. The question isn’t whether the technology exists to save ourselves. It does. The question is whether we’ll choose to use it before it's too late. If you've ever felt paralyzed by the scale of the climate crisis, this episode will remind you that, even as we have backed ourselves into a corner, we have a brightly lit, if narrow, path out.

Takeaways:

1. Bill McKibben highlights the shift in energy economics where renewable sources are now cheaper than fossil fuels, marking a pivotal moment for climate action.
2. The podcast emphasizes our deep connection to the sun, both biologically and emotionally, making renewable energy not just feasible but a natural choice for humanity.
3. McKibben’s journey through climate activism illustrates how grassroots movements can reshape global agreements like the Paris Accord, showcasing the power of collective action.
4. The conversation underscores that transitioning to solar and wind energy is not merely an alternative but the primary path forward for sustainable