The energy thermostat

The IEA advised member countries to reduce highway speeds and encourage working from home in response to the Middle East energy crisis — echoes of the 1970s playbook. Oil's 10% drop on the five-day pause announcement was called a "massive tax cut for the global economy." The war's disruption to the Strait of Hormuz (20% of global oil and gas) is being described as the largest supply disruption since 1973. Inflation forecasts raised, growth forecasts lowered across the board.

The collective processes energy crises through the language of economics — prices, supply, demand. What it refuses to process: the 1970s energy crisis catalysed the environmental movement, decentralised energy research, and a fundamental questioning of growth. Whether this one catalyses anything beyond market volatility depends on whether the collective can hold the disruption long enough for it to become a question rather than just a price.