Cognitive dissonance - the perception of contradictory information and the

Cognitive dissonance - the perception of contradictory information and the mental toll of it.

Another sobering report about the planned extension of fossil fuel extraction came out today (https://productiongap.org/), showing that we are heading in the wrong direction by using more instead of less fossil fuel. All the while we experienced the hottest year on record (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02995-7) and are making a massive buck here in Norway selling gas and oil to mainland Europe (https://www.norskpetroleum.no/en/production-and-exports/exports-of-oil-and-gas/).

This leaves me worried, angry and confused. I have no easy solutions or answers to these problems, no one really has. Shoving all responsibility over to individual consumers will only distract and divert people, but individual business as usual and lazily complaining about higher powers goes nowhere too. We need some fundamental policy changes, that remain unaffected by political instabilities and the lure of big money. This will be hard to pull of in any political system. Awareness of the challenge at hand is a first step towards action. Let’s not be divided by pointing fingers at each other but work together across political and national divides to solve the energy transition challenge, our grandchildren will judge us.