Too bad the world is still so dependent on oil.

I recently saw an article saying Trump was right about the need to drill baybe drill. Totally missing from that article is the idea of using less oil. Article was critical of Europe for not developing it's oil and gas resources as much as USA has done. Europe remained too dependent on Russian oil and gas until too late when trouble broke out over Ukraine.

I agree in one way that the way to reduce fossil fuel dependency is to work on the demand side, rather than trying to crimp supply. Much of the environmental movement has been about fighting drilling, fracking and pipelines, while that usually leads to right wing backlash from consumers still dependent on fossil fuels as supply tightens and prices rise.

It's better to work on the supply end, such as promoting solar energy, less car dependency, public transit, less greed, less population growth and more compact neighborhood planning.

European countries have done a much better job at this than USA. Still it was not enough as Europe was dependent on Russian and Middle Eastern energy sources. USA became less dependent due to domestic fossil fuel production.

Maybe USA is also just luckier with more oil and gas under it's ground.

Early on, after the fall of Soviet Union, it looked like Russia was trying to do better at human rights so European energy purchases from Russia could have seemed like a good way to help a neighbor. Later on, Puttin turned more authoritarian, anti gay and so forth. European nations were slow to realize the bind they were in.