大象传媒

The pictures of Russian tanks rolling across the Ukrainian countryside seem both surreal鈥攁 flashback to a Europe that we鈥檝e seen only in newsreels鈥攁nd inevitable. It鈥檚 been clear for years that Vladimir Putin was both evil and driven and that eventually we might come to a moment like this.

One of the worst parts of facing today鈥檚 reality is our impotence in its face. Yes, America is imposing sanctions, and yes, that may eventually hamper Putin. But the Russian leader made his move knowing we could not actually fight him in Ukraine鈥攁nd indeed knowing that his hinted willingness to use nuclear weapons will make it hard to fight him anywhere, though one supposes we will have no choice if he attacks a NATO member.

But that doesn鈥檛 mean there aren鈥檛 ways to dramatically reduce Putin鈥檚 power. One way, in particular: to get off oil and gas.

This is not a 鈥渨ar for oil and gas鈥� in the sense that too many of America鈥檚 Middle East misadventures might plausibly be described. But it is a war underwritten by oil and gas, a war whose most crucial weapon may be oil and gas, a war we can鈥檛 fully engage because we remain dependent on oil and gas. If you want to stand with the brave people of Ukraine, you need to find a way to stand against oil and gas.

Russia has a pathetic economy鈥攜ou can verify that for yourself by looking around your house and seeing how many of the things you use were made within its borders. Today, 60% of its exports are oil and gas; it supplies the money that powers the country鈥檚 military machine.

And, alongside that military machine, control of oil and gas supplies is Russia鈥檚 main weapon. It has, time and again, threatened to turn off the flow of hydrocarbons to western Europe. When the Germans finally this week stopped the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Putin鈥檚 predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, said, 鈥淲elcome to the new world where Europeans will soon have to pay 2,000 euros [$2,270] per thousand cubic meters!鈥� His not very subtle notion: If the price of keeping houses warm doubles, Europe will have no choice but to fold.

Today, 60% of Russia鈥檚 exports are oil and gas. Control of oil and gas supplies is Russia鈥檚 main weapon.

Finally, even the Biden administration鈥攚hich has been playing its hand wisely in the lead-up to the invasion鈥攊s constrained by oil and gas. As we impose sanctions, everyone鈥檚 looking for an out: The Italians want to exempt high-end luxury goods and the Belgians diamonds, but the U.S. has made it clear that it doesn鈥檛 want to seriously interrupt the flow of Russian oil for fear of driving up gas prices and thus weakening American resolve.

As one 鈥渟enior state department official鈥� told , 鈥淒oing anything that affects 鈥� or halts energy transactions would have a great impact on the United States, American citizens and our allies. So our intention here is to impose the hardest sanctions we can while trying to safeguard the American public and the rest of the world from those measures.鈥� It鈥檚 obviously not an idle fear: As of this morning, Tucker Carlson was  Russia hawk Lindsey Graham for supporting a conflict that will bring 鈥渉igher gas prices鈥� while he has a 鈥済enerous Congressional pension.鈥� If you鈥檙e an apologist for fascism, high gas prices are your first go-to move.

So now is the moment to remind ourselves that, in the last decade, scientists and engineers have dropped the cost of solar and wind power by an order of magnitude, to the point where it is some of the cheapest power on Earth. The best reason to deploy it immediately is to ward off the existential crisis that is climate change, and the second best is to stop the killing of 9 million people annually who die from breathing in the particulates that fossil fuel combustion produces. But the third best reason鈥攁nd perhaps the most plausible for rousing our leaders to action鈥攊s that it dramatically reduces the power of autocrats, dictators, and thugs.

Imagine a Europe that ran on solar and wind power: whose cars ran on locally provided electricity, and whose homes were heated by electric air-source heat pumps. That Europe would not be funding Putin鈥檚 Russia, and it would be far less scared of Putin鈥檚 Russia鈥攊t could impose every kind of sanction and keep them in place until the country buckled. Imagine an America where the cost of gas was not a political tripwire, because if people had to have a pickup to make them feel sufficiently manly, that pickup would run on electricity that came from the sun and wind. It would take an evil-er genius than Vladimir Putin to figure out how to embargo the sun.

These are not novel technologies鈥攖hey exist, are growing, and could be scaled up quickly. In the years after Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, America turned its industrial prowess to building tanks, bombers, and destroyers. In 1941, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the world鈥檚 largest industrial plant went up in six months鈥� time, and soon it was churning out a B-24 bomber every hour. A bomber is a complicated machine with more than a million parts; a wind turbine is, by contrast, relatively simple. In Michigan alone (鈥渢he arsenal of democracy鈥�), a radiator company retooled to make 20m steel helmets and a rubber factory retooled to produce the liners for those helmets; the company that made the fabric for Ford鈥檚 seat cushions stopped doing that and started pushing out parachutes. Do we think that it鈥檚 beyond us to quickly produce the solar panels and the batteries required to end our dependence on fossil fuel?

Imagine a Europe that ran on solar and wind power. That Europe would not be funding Putin鈥檚 Russia.

It鈥檚 not easy鈥攁mong other things, Russia has a good deal of some of the minerals that help in renewable energy production. (Nickel, for example.) But here, again, the example of the second world war is helpful鈥攚ith the Axis in control of commodities like rubber, we quickly figured out how to mass-produce substitutes.

It鈥檚 true that we could produce carbon-free energy with nuclear power too, as long as we were willing to pay the heavy premium that technology requires鈥攁nd right now, Germany is probably regretting its decision to hastily shut down its reactors in the wake of the Fukushima accident. But if you think about the scenario now unfolding across Europe, you鈥檙e reminded of another of the advantages of renewable power, which is that it鈥檚 widely distributed. There are far fewer central nodes to attack with cruise missiles and artillery shells鈥攖argeting reactors is pretty easy, but driving your tank across Europe from one solar panel to the next so you can get out to smash it with a hammer is comical.

At the moment, big oil is using the fighting in Ukraine as an excuse to try to expand its footprint鈥攔eliable industry ally Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, went on Fox this week to argue that stopping the Keystone XL pipeline had empowered the Russian leader, for instance, and the American Petroleum Institute called for more oil and gas development. But this is absurd鈥攚e may need, for the remaining weeks of this winter, to ensure gas supplies for Europe, but by next winter, we need to remove that lever. That means an all-out effort to decarbonize that continent, and then our own. It鈥檚 not impossible.

We have to do it anyway, if we鈥檙e to have any hope of slowing climate change. And we can do it fast if we want: Huge offshore wind farms in Europe have been built inside of 18 months without any wartime pressure.

We should be in agony today鈥攑eople are dying because they want to live in a democracy, want to determine their own affairs. But that agony should, and can, produce real change. (And not just in Europe. Imagine not having to worry about what the king of Saudi Arabia thought, or the Koch brothers鈥攁ccess to fossil fuel riches so often produces retrograde thuggery.) Caring about the people of Ukraine means caring about an end to oil and gas.

This story originally appeared in and is part of , a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.