Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
During one week (Monday to Friday) the news ranged from the growing e-waste crisis, to oil companies’ long-term plans to drill, to green bonds for nuclear power. None of it makes sense, except in a culture that puts consumerism and growth ahead of everything else.
While we may change the kinds of cars we drive, we won’t change our lifestyles to fit a climate-challenged future. Millions upon millions of new zero-emission vehicles will be required and to create them, we’ll need staggering amounts of resources that are still lodged below the earth’s crust.
Energy is meant to supply vitality, not threaten destruction. It is the flow of life through an ecosystem.
A couple years ago a project launched at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro, Vt., aimed at making the whole church campus– church, education wing, and rectory– powered 110% by clean, renewable energy by 2030.
Solar power plus battery storage will enable a Petersburg, VA Resiliency Hub to keep its doors open in times of crisis.
China’s energy sector carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased 5.2% in 2023, meaning a record fall of 4-6% is needed by 2025 to meet the government’s “carbon intensity” target.
A cornerstone of the UK’s plans to slash the use of gas in home heating has survived a bitter backlash from the gas boiler sector.
Alberta’s water emergency, which is also a fire emergency, was foretold by scores of water scientists. They predicted that prolonged water scarcity would hit southern Alberta hard for stubborn geographical reasons.
As violent militias rampage across the country, activists in the DRC are urgently calling for a green transition that puts justice first, not new revenue streams, and that dismantles colonial exploitation once and for all.
Lithium may be at the heart of the green transition, but mining the metallic element also causes damage to natural environments. In lithium-rich Portugal, modest rural communities join national outrage against governmental deals bypassing local economies and threatening livelihoods.
Radical societal transformation is inevitable; a plan could make a difference between catastrophe and progress.
Climate change is drying up the reliably ample sources of water that hydro power depends upon. It is depleting glaciers. It is reducing snowmelt. It is increasing flood and drought extremes. And it is accelerating water evaporation and demand.
