Colorado is ground central in a crusade to end world poverty by 2050. The driving force is Liberty Energy, a Denver-based oil and gas company, where ending poverty has become an obsession. As a state known for advocating social responsibility — at universities, think tanks and nonprofits — Liberty CEO Chris Wright and his team have established the Bettering Human Lives Foundation.

It promotes an economic development approach to deliver clean fuels and cooking equipment to households choking on deadly emissions from wood, dung, garbage, tires and anything else that burns. “The last two centuries of increased energy access have more than doubled global human life expectancy and dramatically shrunk severe poverty,” Wright said. “Yet, only about a billion lucky people live highly energized lives.

” Millions of the other 7 billion linger on fewer calories and in worse conditions than Colorado’s homeless. Although poverty declined for a century, a recent uptick correlates with mandates obstructing oil, gas and nuclear energy. As Wright documents in his new free book, “Bettering Human Lives,” 80% of Americans worked in agriculture two centuries ago.

That number has declined to 1.7%, yet Americans consume 50% more calories than 100 years ago. Oil and gas and the shale revolution — which Wright has advanced — are the reason we produce so much more with so much less.

Every piece of modern farming equipment — including all-electric tractors — depends on oil and .