Our world today is now totally dependent upon the supply of easily available, cheap energy. And how we have used it has both built our world and at the same time now threatens its future. Is it time to rethink our view of energy?
Today's world is completely different to that of 200 years ago, largely because of energy use. It was our learning how to harness energy in a new way - using fossil fuels to make steam to power machines - that started the Industrial Revolution and the birth of the modern world.
Coal powered steam engines gave us powerful, portable energy that could be made to do jobs of work. We were no longer limited to what could be done through human or animal effort, nor was the energy source fixed in one place like water wheels.
And ever since, almost every part of our world has been shaped by the use of portable energy. From transport and industry to healthcare and entertainment, it all depends on energy.
Why is 'energy' an ethical issue?