"the geologic record as we know it thus suggests that climate is a profoundly grander thing than energy. energy procurement is a matter of engineering and keeping the lights on under circumstances that are likely to get more difficult as time progresses. climate change, by contrast, is a matter of geologic time, something that the earth routinely does on its own without asking anyone’s permission or explaining itself... far from being responsible for damaging the earth’s climate, civilization might not be able to forestall any of these terrible changes once the earth has decided to make them... the geologic record suggests that climate ought not to concern us too much when we’re gazing into the energy future, not because it’s unimportant, but because it’s beyond our power to control.."