In my latest MasterResource article, “A Moral Defense of the Oil Industry,” I outline the principles that every freedom-loving energy companies needs to know to defend themselves effectively.
The moral case against oil can be refuted and replaced by two concepts that marry energy knowledge and moral philosophy:
- Progressive energy: The ideal source of energy is not some “sustainable”–i.e., endlessly repeatable–form, but the best, cheapest, ever-improving form human ingenuity can devise. As long as human beings are free, they will continue to develop new resources from previously useless raw materials (such as shale oil). An oil industry is ideal in the same way the iPhone is an ideal for so many. It may not be the best forever, but it is the best for now and we should be grateful to have it.
- Environmental improvement: Energy and technology, including the oil industry, are needed to improve nature–which, left to its own devices, is resource-poor and threat-rich. Every activity has negative byproducts, but the net environmental impact of oil is a radical improvement.