Benjamin WittesWhat in your opinion is the greater conventional wisdom screwup of 2022?
Vireo olivaceus 🇺🇦@benjaminwittes “#EU needs Russian natural gas” - forgetting that it’s a standardized commodity with other sources, not a unique product. Also forgetting that gas itself is just one energy source among many, so it’s subject to the Substitution Effect. And oblivious to the lessons of the 1973 #OPEC oil embargo https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-america/2013-10-15/how-1973-oil-embargo-saved-planet (paywalled, sorry, but the article’s title conveys the main point: blocking a #fossilfuel source was a good thing in the long run).
How the 1973 Oil Embargo Saved the Planet
The Arab members of OPEC responsible for the 1973 oil crisis inadvertently gave the rest of the world a life-saving head start in the struggle to avoid, or at least mitigate, the threat of catastrophic climate change. Forty years later, environmentalists owe them a debt of gratitude.