President Jimmy Carter said he would never lie to us. A confident nation can handle the truth. Long ago, he acknowledged the problems fossil fuels create and advised the nation to turn to renewable sources before global warming reached a tipping point. A student of military science at the U.S. Naval Academy, he was knowledgeable in the ways of war and preferred negotiating to fighting. When he told us we needed to reassess our values and turn away from materialism, few wanted to make the sacrifices.