"Energy abundance is the most important thing we can work towards as a species"

Simple facts:
Coal kills. Nuclear waste from power plants has literally never harmed anyone.

Please read and promote Hannah Ritchie.

As noted, a large portion of the Left is de facto anti-human. Not pro-environment but anti-capitalism, anti-progress, and anti-growth, and thus pro-poverty and pro-misery.

It is entirely possible to make the case that humanity's continued existence is not an unquestionably inherent good. But either make that case (rather than just advocating policies that will cause more human misery) or instead work to create less suffering and more thriving.

(Keep in mind that there are literally billions of people who would do anything to change places with you. And if you had to change places with them, it would be as though the apocalypse had come for you.)

Energy abundance will lead to a much better world. Just two* not-obvious examples: cultivated meat is much less cruel and takes less land, but it is energy-intensive. And carbon capture and storage will be easy in a world of energy abundance.

IOW: pursuing energy abundance may well be the best way to end factory farms and reverse (and adapt to) climate change.

I've written ad nauseum about the simple fact that wind and solar can't and won't provide a world of abundance for everyone. But I recently came across the podcast, The Age of Miracles, that is dedicated to what we can do to help the future be like Star Trek. (You can just listen to episode 10 to get the gist.) 

From that podcast, I found the chart above by the incomparable Hannah Ritchie. (Note the description - what would be the waste if electricity came from just one source. E.g., that is how much waste if all an individual's power came from electricity.) (Update: more from Matt Yglesias.)

From that podcast, I also came across this site that documents how many renewable energy projects are rejected. The trend, of course, is going up and up and up. NIMBYism right before our eyes. It will only get worse. A reminder:

From Ezra Klein's podcast:

Jesse Jenkins:

...[In] The most cost-effective of our net-zero scenarios, [wind] spans an area that is equal to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee put together. And the solar farms are an area the size of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Ezra Klein:

Holy crap.

 * And desalinization. Vast decreases in hunger. Vastly improved access to healthcare. Useful and ubiquitous AI. Etc.