Two events triggered that grave assessment of Europe's place in a rapidly changing world, where unconventional oil and gas is starting to dictate political and economic events.

The first was a decision by the British Government to permit the resumption of exploratory drilling for hydrocarbons trapped in thick beds of shale that lie beneath the "green and pleasant land".

The second was a series of reports into how rising levels of unconventional oil and gas production are revolutionising the global energy industry. In this category, came news that:

• Saudi Arabia has cut oil production to its lowest level in a year thanks to rising US production of oil and gas
• Venezuela is being forced to look for new markets for its critically important oil exports because the US has cut its purchases from that country to a 30-year low
• Argentina is trying to attract international oil companies with the appropriate technology to unlock its shale gas reserves
• Arab states that control the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries voted to maintain their 30 million barrel-a-day quote despite evidence that rising US oil production was starting to destabilise the world market.

These events followed last month's International Energy Agency report that revealed the US was poised to overtake Russia as a gas producer, then overtake Saudi Arabia as an oil producer, leading to a flippant suggestion that the US could be renamed "Saudi America."

So much has been written about the rise and rise of unconventional oil and gas that there is not much point in rehashing the story.

Worth looking at though are Rice University scholar Amy Myers Jaffe's original predictions. She not only forecast the shale-gas revolution but went way out on the limb, saying it would be as political an event as an economic one.

Her views include the theory that shale gas (and oil) may lead to the collapse of OPEC and the failure of attempts to start a gas equivalent, a transfer of energy pricing power to consumer countries away from producers, and a tough time for renewable energy sources as the price of gas tumbles and stays low.

The latest news from Venezuela, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and OPEC confirms that outlook of three years ago is becoming today's reality - except in Europe.

The British experience is an example of the problems being encountered by explorers wanting to drill under heavily populated regions with local residents mounting passionate protests about the rock-fracturing process essential to get tight rocks to release their cargo.

French and German environmental lobby groups are running similar campaigns to those underway in Britain, effectively stalling the development of a shale-gas industry.

But, and this is what really caught The Slug's attention, the protests are not just delaying the inevitable move to embrace shale gas. They are condemning Europe to an even longer recession than the one it is trapped in.

Big German manufacturers can sense the emerging problem, which comes down to a very simple calculation. If American manufacturers can get their energy supplies at a cheaper price than what is on offer in Europe then that is where they will invest.

Hints of industry migrating are already being detected by observers of European economic trends who report seeing an alarming increase in an already devastatingly high level of unemployment.

In time, as industry migrates to countries offering cheaper energy, and shale-gas producers start posting higher economic growth rates than those standing in the way of the industry, a political change will follow.

The British Government has been the first to see the light, lifting a ban on shale fraccing.

If the explorers successfully discover the notional 200 trillion cubic feet of gas under Lancashire alone then Britain will be on the same pathway to energy independence as the US.

European nations, hell-bent on pursuing a future powered by heavily-subsidised solar and wind power, will resist the lure of shale-gas for as long as they can, but will eventually succumb, or risk a recession becoming a depression.

Jaffe did not single out Europe as a shale-gas victim, but there is no doubt she would today.