Progressive Thinking

We’re told to live greener, drive less, and save the planet until a global crisis hits, then it’s all about oil, survival, and keeping the lights on. The war in Iran is exposing just how fragile our commitment to sustainability really is.

LAKE GENEVA, WI - Let’s be honest for a minute.

We’ve all been told to recycle, cut back, and do our part to save the planet. Fine. Most of us try.

But then a conflict involving Iran ramps up, oil supply gets shaky, and suddenly… all that green talk disappears.

Gas prices jump. Energy gets tight. And just like that, sustainability takes a back seat to survival.

Countries start scrambling for oil again. Fossil fuels are back in style. The same thing we were told to move away from becomes the thing we can’t live without.

Here’s the reality nobody likes to say out loud.

War is the opposite of sustainable.

It burns fuel, destroys infrastructure, and sets environmental progress back years. While we’re arguing about plastic straws, entire regions are being pushed backward environmentally in ways that actually matter.

And at home, it hits us where it hurts. Gas goes up. Food goes up. Everything goes up. When that happens, nobody is thinking about emissions. They’re thinking about getting by.

Meanwhile, the oil industry? They’re doing just fine.

So maybe the problem isn’t that people aren’t trying hard enough.

Maybe the problem is that the system itself isn’t built to support sustainability when it actually counts.

Because the minute there’s a crisis, we find out what really matters.

And it’s not the planet.

Read my latest Don’t Blink! blog post at LauraKiefert.blog