Abstract

In the United States and some other nations, the energy orthodoxy is being hijacked at the highest levels of political power by a look-alike ideology. This chapter uses the canary as the totem animal of the orthodoxy and the honey badger as the totem animal of this imposter ideology. The honey badger wears all the same trappings as the orthodoxy: celebrating the control of nature, innovation, and economic growth. Yet unlike the orthodoxy, it doesn’t dare to know the truth about its impacts. The honey badger is numb, whereas the orthodoxy (like the canary) is sensitive. The orthodoxy invests its faith in a process: the unfurling of human intelligence. The honey badger is faithful only to a product: fossil fuels. Nothing could be more reckless when it comes to climate change.