preventable energy crisis

The global energy crisis that is affecting almost everyone is not an unpredictable issue. Most countries knew this day would come but decided to wait until it happens before taking any action. In my opinion, it would have been easily avoided if we'd  started investing in alternative energy in the 80 or 90s -- at least the impact would have been cushioned significantly. In their fairness, I understand that it was less expensive to continue using the fossil fuels than investing in renewable fuels. Unfortunate, this preventable crisis has hit us ...sooner than most thought.

Are there any mistakes?

Thanks.

The global energy crisis that is affecting almost everyone was not an unpredictable issue

Thanks you Clive. I have one question. Though I agree that 'was' is correct, I see no problem with 'is' which emphasizes that fact that the crisis is not an unpredictable issue - a statement. Could you briefly explain? I hope this is not a major mistake.

Consider that you are looking at two cars that collided 5 minutes ago.

This is a good example. But unfortunately, I'd say 'This IS an unpredictable accident" :(

My reasoning is as follows:

"This is an accident", describes what the event is. Unpredictable is just an adjective describing the accident, so it becomes "This is an unpredictable accident"

Using 'was' is like saying "This was an accident" and it's not right because it's still a fact. Help.

This is getting more and more confusing to me. If you don't mind, let's drop the adjective unpredictable. I believe it doesn't affect your choice of verb.

For some reason, the words there and this affect the tense. There paired with was is OK but This sounds better with is. Imagine looking at a picture of an accident. Of the two words, I would choose to use 'this' and because I'm looking at it, I would use the present tense though clearly the accident occured before that: This is an accident.

I can't imagine when I'd say "This was an accident". This and was just don't go well with each other.

I'm starting to understand why you prefer the past tense over the present. Could you shed some light on This vs There?

There is nothing wrong with:

"This was an accident waiting to happen".  - talking about a specific accident after it had happened.