The service paradox
The illusion that a transition to a service economy would lower our material footprint is caused by the inability to look at the system as a whole and the feedback loops that exist.
Energy featured
A Reality Check on Our ‘Energy Transition’
The much-vaunted “energy transition” that promised a great leap forward from fossil fuels to renewables along with a cornucopia of technologies is now struggling with history and complexity. A few facts tell the story.
Jane Muncke: “Shutting Off The Plastic Tap: A Global Treaty To Regulate Petrochemical Pollution?”
In this special episode, Nate is joined by toxicologist Jane Muncke, who provides an in-depth analysis following the final day of discussions in Busan, South Korea. Together, they explore the complex intergovernmental negotiations that have defined the treaty process, as well as the environmental and health policies that have shaped these conversations in recent years.
China holds the world’s climate future in its hands
China has its own fate in its hands, as well as the rest of the world. We can hope it will take the needed actions that will give us a fighting chance to hold at 1.5°C, or near it.
How Community Solar Can Liberate You From Fossil Fuels
Local and rural cooperative utilities can use community solar to meet unique place-based clean energy needs.
Climate policy is on a collision course with physical reality
There is a chasm in outlook between the global climate policy-making elite with their focus on distant goals, market solutions and non-disruptive change, and activists and key researchers who see the world hurtling towards climate breakdown and social collapse.
Ray Kurzweil, Evangelist of Techno-Immortality
As John Gray has written, utopian visions, whether fascism, communism, globalism or the Singularity, invariably promise “dreams of collective deliverance.” But in waking life, they “are found to be nightmares.”
North Carolina town sues Duke Energy for climate ‘deception’
A small town in North Carolina has taken a bold step, filing the first climate “deception” lawsuit against an electric utility in the United States.
Helen Thompson: “Energy Crises & Global Power Shifts: The Struggle for Stability in Israel, Iran, and Beyond”
Today, Nate is joined by Political Economy Professor Helen Thompson to explore the evolving understanding of energy’s role in international relations, particularly in the context of recent conflicts in the Middle East.
Despite Trump, some good news – The clean energy revolution can’t be stopped
This is not the time to sink into despair, but to acknowledge how much we have accomplished on climate. And how many avenues we have to continue making progress in our cities and states, communities and bioregions. Let’s be thankful for what we have done, and get ready to roll up our sleeves to do more.
Historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz: ‘Forget the energy transition: there never was one and there never will be one’
In France, Jean-Baptiste Fressoz has been provoking the energy and climate debate for some time. He denounces the obsession with technological solutions to climate change and advocates a reduction in the use of materials and energy.
Maslow and High Energy Modernity
Whatever model replaces the current one in providing comfortable, well-nourished, safe and stable societies will clearly need a lot of work to define and drive, but should clearly aim to achieve these things without the need for lots of shiny but unsustainable toys. Time is short, but there’s no time like the present to get started.
