Abstract
This chapter begins Part II, which explains and defends the energy orthodoxy in a new voice, namely, that of a recent ‘convert’ to the orthodox faith. The chapter reframes the so-called paradoxes of a high-energy life as “First World Problems.” Climate change is also a first world problem. This chapter uses a parable to illustrate the logic and moral force of the energy orthodoxy, which is about controlling fate to achieve comfort, convenience, and security. Next, the chapter reframes the Anthropocene as a universal human accomplishment, albeit one that required a particular culture to finally unlock the winning formula to control fate.
Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed
Francis Bacon, 1620
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Briggle, A. (2021). First World Problems. In: Thinking Through Climate Change. Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53587-2_7
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