There's no moral comparison between humans who suffered in slavery and molecules of fossil fuels. But the abolition movement of the nineteenth century may hold the key to unblocking climate action today. Image: slaveryimages.org. The planet continues to fry. Yet, America is pumping more fossil fuel than it has in decades. And the U.S. government does nothing to slow the … [Read more...]
Energy
Sorting out the wheat from the chaff of new energy ideas, while paying close attention to energy-efficiency and conservation.
To Save the World, We Need to Save America First — with Patriotic Solar
One of the biggest things the world can do to slow climate change is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil, coal and natural gas. As of 2013, the energy sector accounted for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. So, you can stop cutting down all the trees in the Amazon or Indonesia, and replant trees across the Sahel, but it won't be anywhere near enough to slow … [Read more...]
Hurricane Harvey, We Yawn in your Direction
And Irma, we don't really give a crap about you, either. Water, Water, Everywhere Twenty-seven TRILLION gallons of water dumped on Southeast Texas in six days? That's what the various reports say. And we say, "Big whoop!" Wild-Westy, pavement-obsessedy Houston essentially destroyed, molded, and steeped in a toxic stew from chemical plants gone kablooey while the … [Read more...]
Despite Cheap Gas, Coming Back to Peak Oil [Infographic]
Yesterday, in Virginia, I filled up my gas tank for $2.75 a gallon. At that price, even old peak oilers like my wife and I hardly think about poor old King Hubbard's theory much these days. And though gas has been cheap in the U.S. for the last six months or more, I still think Hubbard was right that global oil production naturally has a point of peak … [Read more...]
It’s Time Again to Worry about Heating Costs
If you care about climate change and peak oil, you're always thinking about ways to get off of fossil fuels around the world and to save energy around your house. Home energy tweaking can become an obsession. It has for me. Just take light bulbs for example. It seems that only a few years ago, I swapped out all our old incandescents for compact fluorescents that used less … [Read more...]