Maybe the hardest thing for Americans to accept about the energy challenge is that it isn’t all about us anymore.

Whether they realize it or not, both sides of the argument in the United States tend to see the root causes the same way:  it’s all about the American consumer.   For environmentalists, the  problem  is that the average American’s  hunger for energy is driving the greenhouse emissions that are destroying the planet. For the “drill, baby, drill” camp, the problem is to keep gas prices low and prevent Americans  from having to send their hard-earned dollars to oil producers overseas. That’s the best argument for finding as much oil as we can right here.

Last week, the International