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Tag Archives: fossil fuels
Revolution? More like a crawl
Revolution? More like a crawl The energy visionary Vaclav Smil — Bill Gates’s favorite author — says that when our leaders promise quick energy transformations, they’re getting it very wrong. America in 2015 finds itself almost in a new energy reality. It recently became the world’s second–largest extractor of crude oil, and since 2010 has been the leading producer of natural gas, whose abundant and inexpensive […]
No Climate Protection without Climate Justice; No Climate Justice without Degrowth
No Climate Protection without Climate Justice; No Climate Justice without Degrowth Shortly before the most crucial UN climate change conference after the failure of Copenhagen, it seems that the international climate-movement is finally getting its act together: resistance against fossil fuel extraction is gaining ground and a rising global movement is putting pressure on institutions to divest their […]
The Suits Are Flocking to Renewables
The Suits Are Flocking to Renewables Investors like the ‘predictability’ of clean energy. If you’re looking for revolutionaries, radicals and upstart disrupters, you wouldn’t generally search among a crowd of municipal bureaucrats, policy wonks and businesspeople, all suited up for a conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver. But the 350-odd delegates to the […]
Are We Witnessing The Beginning Of The End For Fossil Fuels?
Are We Witnessing The Beginning Of The End For Fossil Fuels? Bloomberg recently declared the era of fossil fuels irrevocably in decline: “The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there’s no going back.” The sea change in how we power our economies officially […]
The Latest Casualty In Energy’s Hardest Hit Industry
The Latest Casualty In Energy’s Hardest Hit Industry Another coal company bites the dust. Again. Patriot Coal, a miner of coal in several Appalachian states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 12. Patriot said it is “in active negotiations for the sale of substantially all of the Company’s operating assets to a strategic partner.” The move […]
Alberta Health Board Fires Doctor Who Raised Cancer Alarms
Alberta Health Board Fires Doctor Who Raised Cancer Alarms ‘I am stunned,’ says Dr. John O’Connor, a veteran presence in First Nations community An Alberta health board has fired Dr. John O’Connor, the physician who came to national prominence after raising questions about rare cancers in the tarsands region. The Nunee Health Board Society send […]
Widely-Used Tool Can Lowball Methane Pollution Rates, Scientists Report, With Huge Implications for Climate Policy
Widely-Used Tool Can Lowball Methane Pollution Rates, Scientists Report, With Huge Implications for Climate Policy An EPA-approved methane sampler widely used to measure gas leaks from oil and gas operations nationwide can dramatically under-report how much methane is leaking into the atmosphere, a team of researchers reported in a peer-reviewed paper published in March. The researchers, one […]
Want to Change the Future? Pay Attention to the Past.
WANT TO CHANGE THE FUTURE? PAY ATTENTION TO THE PAST. From Mandela to MLK to McKibben, history offers lessons aplenty for climate activists We all know the plotline: Single-minded, passionate activists attempt to take on immense money and power, hidebound ideology and bureaucratic paralysis to turn the tide on the most important issue ever. We […]
How Much Would Zero Emissions Cost?
How Much Would Zero Emissions Cost? In 2014 global carbon emissions totaled 32 gigatonnes (Gt). If you’re counting, that’s roughly 32 Gt too many. Yes, zero, near-zero, or net-zero is what we want, and soon is when we need it. Failure to achieve such goals by the end of the century will irreparably damage our planet and […]
Overview of Our Energy Modeling Problem
Overview of Our Energy Modeling Problem We live in a world with limits, yet our economy needs growth. How can we expect this scenario to play out? My view is that this problem will play out as a fairly near-term financial problem, with low oil prices leading to a fall in oil production. But not everyone […]
Mary Robinson, UN Envoy: Climate Agenda Makes 2015 the ‘Most Important Year Since 1945’
Mary Robinson, UN Envoy: Climate Agenda Makes 2015 the ‘Most Important Year Since 1945’ Mary Robinson, the United Nations envoy on climate change, warns that the transition away from fossil fuels must happen immediately to achieve climate justice. I am struck by the fact that Eleanor Roosevelt, and her commission, who drew up theDeclaration of Human […]
The Great Burning
The Great Burning Part two of a four-part video series. Released in conjunction with Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels. What will we do when the Great Burning comes to an end? In this short video, Richard Heinberg explores why The Great Burning — the combustion of oil, coal, and natural gas — must come to an end […]
The Inconvenient Truth About A Green Revolution
The Inconvenient Truth About A Green Revolution “Green energy is the future!” “Green energy will create tens of thousands of new jobs!” Statements like these have become the new mantra for green energy advocates even as fossil fuel emissions have fallen dramatically thanks at least in part to the rise of natural gas. Fossil fuel emissions today […]
Putting the Real Story of Energy and the Economy Together
Putting the Real Story of Energy and the Economy Together What is the real story of energy and the economy? We hear two predominant energy stories. One is the story economists tell: The economy can grow forever; energy shortages will have no impact on the economy. We can simply substitute other forms of energy, or do […]
