A few weeks ago, Lynnda and I were doing yard work. There was a vine she wanted pulled up. Without any thought I started pulling up the vine.

Most of it was out when Lynnda said, “I wonder if that’s poison ivy?” I had gloves on and washed my arms thoroughly, I thought.

The next day the itching and rash showed up. It was poison ivy!

In spite of the home remedies I used the poison ivy went up both arms. It was on my legs and somehow even got to my back. This was my worst case of poison ivy since I was a kid.

It was miserable despite my best efforts to treat it with drug store remedies.

A week later it was worse. I had to do something and decided to see our dermatologist. He’s a friend. His son is on our high school soccer team.

Approaching the receptionist, I held up my poison ivy covered arms and asked. “Is there anything the doctor can do about this?”

She took one look at me and said, “Oh my. You need to be seen.”

Doc knew just what to do. He prescribed a special ointment and gave me a prescription. In about a week the itching and most of the rashes were gone.

Lynnda is a nurse and the pharmacist gave me his recommendation, but they aren’t experts. It took an expert, the doctor, to solve my problem with his experience. I trusted Doc as an expert, followed his recommendations and he came through. The itching and rash are gone.

How do we know if someone is an expert we need to listen to and follow?

An expert is defined as someone who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. This dictionary definition doesn’t define how we know if someone has knowledge, skill and experience. My dermatologist has a diploma from medical school. More important, he has a track record of successfully treating Lynnda and my skin problems for years. We have other doctors who are experts in general practice, dentistry and endocrinology. We turn to experts for financial planning and to remove large trees next to our house.

Our daughter, Dannielle, is my running coach. I consider her an expert in the field of distance running because of her success running marathons and half-marathons. (She won her age group in Toledo recently.) She also has trained hundreds of others including some who are old like me, to successfully run marathons and half-marathons injury free. It’s not just what an expert knows it is their ability to turn knowledge into success.

The most attended sessions at conferences like the World Petrochemical Conference (WPC) and others like the Adhesives and Sealants World Conference are when CEOs speak. People want to know what these successful individuals think and want to learn from them.

CEOs are experts in a field who have been successful and are using their expertise to run large organizations. However, when these experts get out of their area of expertise they are no longer an expert.

At recent conferences we heard European CEOs talk about replacing more dependable baseload energy with weather dependent energy that failed them last year. They were clearly not in their area of expertise.

These are the same people who trusted Putin with their energy needs and couldn’t successfully explain where the electricity was going to come from to run the EVs they propose. This week I talked to a foreign company who “had” operations in Ukraine. They are interested in coming to our region because of our dependable economic energy. Currently natural gas prices in our region are between $6 and $7 per MCF. In Europe the price is $39 per MCF. They can make their product here and ship it home or to other global customers. Locating in

SCUSA lowers their carbon footprint, reduces transportation costs and increases profitability.

Lego announced this week it would be building its first U.S. factory to make its plastic blocks near Richmond, VA close to abundant energy, feedstock and in the middle of most of its customers.

This week at a conference we heard from a chemical expert who claimed eliminating fossil fuels is a fantasy. He said, unless a product is made out of glass, metal or wood it contains at least one of six base petrochemicals. Things like medical equipment, medications, cell phones, cars (especially electric), and thousands of other products require fossil fuels to exist. Products like epoxy from petrochemicals are required to manufacture solar panels. Carbon fibers from petrochemicals are needed to manufacture windmills. Those who claim we don’t need fossil fuels may have a theory but no hard results showing success even on a small scale.

Coal in China has some of the highest methane content in the world. The Chinese are mining more coal for power generation and manufacturing. This is releasing millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere. Experts from companies in the USA have been removing methane ahead of mining and using it for fuel since the 1980s. We can help the Chinese and the planet. Bringing more manufacturing back to the USA can also reduce Chinese coal emissions. This isn’t theory. It’s happening with measurable results.

Nothing is wrong with academics and people in government suggesting possible solutions to problems like climate issues. Flying around in a fuel guzzling jet talking about climate problems isn’t implementing solutions that work. True experts have a history of implementing solutions to problems. If life on our planet is at stake who do you trust to solve the problem, people in academia, government and organizations proposing theories and pointing fingers at fossil fuels or industry people who are solving problems and have already reduced U.S. emissions over 20% since 2005? In sports, business or other matters, I like to follow a winner.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker, author of four books and numerous published articles.