I’m Sian, and I’m a fossil fuel addict: on paradox, disavowal and (im)possibility in changing climate change

By Sian Sullivan, Sian Sullivan blog

In the famous 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and associated programmes, the first step is to recognise that you are indeed addicted. That you are bound to a substance over which you do not have control, such that this substance has become your ‘higher power’, its material qualities and structures of access determining one’s activities and choices in the world.

As Trump Leaves Permian Oilfield, Industry Insiders Question If 2020 Bust Marks Texas Oil’s Last Big Boom

By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog

Today, the shale boom of the 2010’s is officially bust, battered not only by the ’s outsized failure to control COVID-19 outbreaks and an oil price war in which foreign producers proved their ability to steer oil prices, but also a wave of multi-billion dollar write-downs by oil giants

Oil, Gas, Petrochemical Financial Woes Predate Pandemic — And Will Continue After, Despite Bailouts, Report Finds

By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog

The oil, gas, and petrochemical industries have taken a massive financial blow from the COVID-19 pandemic, but its financial troubles preexisted the emergence of the novel coronavirus and are likely to extend far into the future, past the end to measures aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.

Scheer Folly: Promised Coast-to-Coast Energy Corridor Makes No Sense

By Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee

Real conservatives know that energy corridors don’t make jobs or support freedom. When China built a pipeline to access natural gas in western Burma, there were reports of forced labour, relocated villages and corruption. Those kinds of things are inherent in energy corridors, which enrich the powerful at the expense of the weak.

Dig Beneath the World’s Far-Right Governments — You’ll Find Fossil Fuels

By Basav Sen, Foreign Policy In Focus

From Brazil to India to the United States, extractive industries have aligned themselves with authoritarian governments waging war on minority populations.

ExxonMobil Misled the Public. Now they’re Trying to Mislead the European Parliament

By Geoffrey Supran, EurActiv.com

Although ExxonMobil now claim to support climate action, they continue to misrepresent scientific work in order to protect profits and protect themselves from liability or responsibility.

NAACP Reveals Tactics Fossil Fuel Industry Uses to Manipulate Communities of Color

By Ben Jervey, DeSmog Blog

The fossil fuel industry regularly deploys manipulative and dishonest tactics when engaging with communities of color, often working to co-opt the respect and authority of minority-led groups to serve corporate goals.

Local Communities Taking on Big Oil

By Emily Hammermeister, Planet Forward

These communities—South Deering, Pilsen, and Little Village—all keep fighting back. The support of groups like the Sierra Club and Pilsen Alliance, standing in solidarity with them, makes them even stronger. As Cheryl Johnson said to me, it is important to “follow what you believe is wrong to try and make it right.” And that’s just what these communities are doing.

Inside the Tent: Big Polluters Work to Shape Paris Agreement Rules at the UN Climate Talks

By Chloe Farand, DeSmog Blog

Should fossil fuel companies that knew their products contributed to climate change for nearly 40 years and did nothing about it now be allowed to have their say inside the UN climate talks?

Big Oil v the Planet is the Fight of our Lives. Democrats must Choose a Side

By David Sirota, The Guardian blog

For those who actually care about the survival of the human race, the key questions now should be obvious: is there any reason to hope that we will retreat from “drill baby drill” and enact a sane set of climate policies? Or is our country – and, by extension, our species – just going to give up?

We Need a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty – and We Need it Now

By Andrew Simms, Peter Newell, The Guardian blog

A moratorium could take the form of a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. The threat of nuclear catastrophe provides a precedent for how, quickly, to stop a bad situation getting worse.

You Can’t Talk about Teacher Strikes without Talking about the Fossil Fuel Industry

By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress

But beyond illuminating the often dismal conditions under which teachers in this country are often forced to work, the walkouts in Oklahoma and West Virginia illuminate something else — what happens when states prioritize tax breaks for fossil fuel companies over education.