The tree/plant analogy is spot on. Did you know that most plants maneuver their leaves by rotation and present a more reflective side to the sun when their energy demand is low? Many trees also manipulate their branches so that water falling on them is directed outward to the root line where specialized root structures can gather it. This is why you can take shelter under a tree when it rains and remain relatively dry.
A group of Japanese horticulturists made a model of the Tokyo subway system and introduced a common mycelium at various points representing stations. The mycelium initially grew at random, but when it advanced a very short way and found the food/nutrient bait planted at another station it developed the most efficient path between the two. This model, derived by simply watching nature, is estimated to be 20% more efficient than the current routing in use.
The effort to extract fossil fuels itself is nothing more than using the sun's energy that was stored by plant and animal life long ago. It was, and is, a methodology that was made obsolete with our ability to collect that energy in real time as we need it. Only the status quo inertia of the industry and its more than formidable political influence has held back any transition into a modern and sustainable system.
However, simply gaining political support for renewable energy isn't enough to allow us to catch up with a world that is more correctly prioritizing energy and climate change. It will also take a considerable, perhaps unprecedented, level of funding from the currency-issuing government to accomplish what needs to be done. This funding must be above and beyond what is needed to return our middle class to its former status, although that will certainly be an additional consequence of our efforts.
We should be shutting down our economy until our representatives show a willingness to confront the major issue of our civilIzation's history to date. That will mean making the people aware of the fiscal authority of Congress as the monopoly issuer of our nation's currency and price setter for what it purchases. This authority and power over the marketplace are not available if the people are simply given money and thrown to the free market wolves who already enjoy a monopoly position as we did with healthcare.
The money is available to that government in an infinite supply and only the real resources and labor available are constraints. The job ahead of us, as well as the will to undertake it, is daunting and will require the best minds and talents among us. It simply cannot be properly scaled at the individual level of decision-making, especially in the current political climate where anything done collectively is suspect.
