Cheap energy is a cornerstone of our (modern, American) way of life, to be sure, and losing it would be awful.  For us.  But there&#x27;s the OP&#x27;s point- climate change will screw over vast numbers of people who didn&#x27;t even benefit from cheap energy to begin with.<p>It would be interesting to see an in-depth quantitative analysis of the effects of dramatically reduced fossil fuel use versus dramatic climate change, in terms of a general global sum of badness (and if anyone knows of such a resource, please link it!)  But there&#x27;s more to the whole matter than global utilitarianism- there&#x27;s also the sheer unfairness of the situation.