Two hundred and fifty years ago this month, Thomas Paine’s pamphlet entitled Common Sense brought to the common man an understanding that past restrictions on freedoms and economic advancement did not have to continue. In plain language, it challenged the wisdom and stagnation of monarchy and hereditary class. It was perhaps the turning point that gave rise to our country. Today, we are at another fork where the wrong turn can lead to stagnation and the right turn can unleash limitless opportunity.
This past week highlighted these choices. The strength of America has always been its ingenuity and scientific advancements. So how do we feel when China is leaving America in the dust in renewable energy production? In a mere five months (from January to May, 2025), China added over 200 gigawatts of new solar power and 46 gigawatts of wind power (The administration’s claim this week that China has no windmills was wildly untrue). That five month increase is the amount of electrical demand that the country of Poland uses…not an insignificant amount. China is pulling away in renewable technology. Why? Direction. China’s autocratic government has seen the strategic risks of reliance on fossil fuels (sources from Iran, Venezuela, etc. are uncertain). China now has made the decision to endorse a future of clean, cheaper energy. Europe has too.
At the same time, in 2025 we saw the United States government proclaim a different direction: Retreat from renewables, cut research and funding, and pressure industry to return to a strict diet of fossil fuels. Whether industry bites has yet to be seen. Last week it was announced that the US would exit 66 international organizations, chief among them the Atlantic Cooperative and International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. These withdrawals are in addition to the suspensions of participation in the World Health Organization, UN Human Rights Council, and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (a 1992 Agreement signed by 198 countries).
History is to be learned from, not retreated to. A yearning for the return of times past is nostalgia that endangers productivity, growth, and advancement. It is a path that leads to the rear.
It is also a strategy bundled with risk. An example: Between 2024 and 2025, the world’s oceans absorbed 33% more heat than in the year before (from 16 zettajoules to 23). One zettajoule is sextillion joules, or two-hundred times the electrical demand of every human on the planet (heat = energy). A warming ocean translates to risks loss of fishstocks (over a third of the Earth’s population’s food security relies on fishstocks) and more dynamic and violent weather patterns. These are economic risks for everyone, whether you live on coasts or America’s Midwest.
With electrical demand expected to double in the next few decades and electric bills in the US rising, on average, at 13.9% yearly, renewables have overtaken coal for electric generation and are a path toward reduced grid reliance, lower utility bills, and less emissions.
Thomas Paine’s simple, plain language pronouncements for the colonies to progress toward a new moral, economic and political future and reject the constraints of the old structure have a certain ring today. Endorsing, instead of rejecting, new renewable energy technology is just Common Sense.