{"id":53849,"date":"2020-06-24T11:37:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T16:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=53849"},"modified":"2020-06-24T11:37:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T16:37:50","slug":"how-to-get-off-fossil-fuels-quickly-and-fairly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=53849","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly\u2014and Fairly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly\u2014and Fairly                                                           Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discuss panel orientation and spacing for a project on simultaneously growing crops under PV Arrays while producing electricity from the panels in South Dearfield, Massachusetts. The project is part of the DOE InSPIRE project seeking to improve the environmental compatibility and mutual benefits of solar development with agriculture and native landscapes. PHOTO FROM SCIENCE IN HD\/UNSPLASH                           Climate experts share a range of ideas and strategies for envisioning a better future. BY BREANNA DRAXLER   8 MIN READJUN 22, 2020 When it comes to a just transition, it\u2019s going to take a radical reimaging not only of our economy but also of our culture and the shape of our social structures. YES! co-hosted a conversation with experts from the nonprofit The Land Institute to discuss policy proposals and new ways to rebuild our sense of self and community from the bottom up.  The discussion was prompted by a new book, The Green New Deal and Beyond, by Stan Cox, the Land Institute\u2019s lead scientist for perennial crops. He was joined by his colleagues, Director of Ecosphere Studies Aubrey Streit Krug, and President Emeritus Wes Jackson. The event was moderated by YES! contributing editor Robert Jensen.  Together they share a range of ideas and strategies for envisioning a better future.  The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.  ROBERT JENSEN: I would propose that the most important word in the title of your book, Stan, is \u201cbeyond.\u201d We know the Green New Deal is not a fully fleshed out political program yet, but why do we need to go beyond it?  STAN COX: The Green New Deal is just a vision at this point. It\u2019s really two things: There\u2019s the \u201cnew deal\u201d part and the \u201cgreen\u201d part. The \u201cnew deal\u201d part is pretty good with its provisions for job and income guarantees, for economic justice and racial justice, and for Indigenous rights and workers\u2019 rights.  The \u201cgreen\u201d part of the Green New Deal, in contrast, is inadequate to the point of being self-defeating. If you look at the joint congressional resolution from last year, it calls for the elimination of greenhouse emissions in various sectors of the economy as much as is technologically feasible. It doesn\u2019t say how to do it or how much is actually going to be eliminated. Taking that approach to say \u201cLet\u2019s see how far technology and a big industrial initiative can take us in resolving the climate emergency\u201d is far from enough.  There appears to be an underlying assumption that building up wind and solar energy and green infrastructure\u2014this big, industrial initiative that they\u2019re talking about\u2014will be enough working through the market to drive fossil fuels out of the economy. But history, analysis, and research show us that\u2019s not the way things work. New sources of energy in a growing economy simply add to the total energy supply. They don\u2019t displace the older sources of energy as long as those are available.  Care work\u2014education, health care, parenting\u2014is really important to any social movement and change.  What I\u2019m proposing in The Green New Deal and Beyond is a direct, secure, statutory elimination of fossil fuels involving a national cap on the number of tons of coal, cubic feet of gas, barrels of oil that can be brought out of the ground and into the economy in a given year, with that cap ratcheting down year by year in equal increments until the deadline, at which point fossil fuels are completely out of the economy. \u201cCap and Adapt\u201d is what we call it.  If we get serious about getting rid of fossil fuels, we\u2019re going to be living with a declining energy supply. The thing that we have to guarantee is fair access to the necessities of life for everyone\u2014what you might call \u201csufficiency for all and overconsumption for none.\u201d  This will be where the economic justice provisions of the Green New Deal become even more important. Marginalized and front-line communities, before the pandemic, were already feeling all the negative impacts of unchecked economic growth. Now they are suffering some of the worst effects of both the pandemic and the chaotic degrowth that we\u2019re experiencing now.  JENSEN: We live in a society that doesn\u2019t deal well with the idea of limits. Aubrey spends a lot of her work thinking about what a stable, decent human society that can live within limits means. Can you describe the work you\u2019re doing?\">How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly\u2014and\u00a0Fairly<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-673x404.jpg 673w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-442x265.jpg 442w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-200x120.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-865x519.jpg 865w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-250x150.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-24x14.jpg 24w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-36x22.jpg 36w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-48x29.jpg 48w, https:\/\/www.yesmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/UMass-solar-panels-divest-600x360.jpg 600w\"> Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discuss panel orientation and spacing for a project on simultaneously growing crops under PV Arrays while producing electricity from the panels in South Dearfield, Massachusetts. The project is part of the DOE InSPIRE project seeking to improve the environmental compatibility and mutual benefits of solar development with agriculture and native landscapes.PHOTO FROM SCIENCE IN HD\/UNSPLASH Climate experts share a range of ideas and strategies for envisioning a better&nbsp;future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When it comes to a just transition, it\u2019s going to take a radical reimaging not only of our economy but also of our culture and the shape of our social structures. YES! co-hosted a conversation with experts from the nonprofit The Land Institute to discuss policy proposals and new ways to rebuild our sense of self and community from the bottom up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The discussion was prompted by a new book,&nbsp;<em>The Green New Deal and Beyond<\/em>, by Stan Cox, the Land Institute\u2019s lead scientist for perennial crops. He was joined by his colleagues, Director of Ecosphere Studies Aubrey Streit Krug, and President Emeritus Wes Jackson. The event was moderated by YES! contributing editor Robert Jensen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Together they share a range of ideas and strategies for envisioning a better future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>ROBERT JENSEN:<\/strong>&nbsp;I would propose that the most important word in the title of your book, Stan, is \u201cbeyond.\u201d We know the Green New Deal is not a fully fleshed out political program yet, but why do we need to go beyond it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly\u2014and\u00a0Fairly Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discuss panel orientation and spacing for a project on simultaneously growing crops under PV Arrays while producing electricity from the panels in South Dearfield, Massachusetts. The project is part of the DOE InSPIRE project seeking to improve the environmental compatibility [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[3253,29933,328,23450,809,6085],"class_list":["post-53849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-alternate-energy","tag-breanna-draxler","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-green-new-deal","tag-transition","tag-yes-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53850,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53849\/revisions\/53850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}