Category: Climate change

Alterations of climate due to greenhouse gas emissions and other causes, and associated issues.

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Technical issues with renewables

Climate, the environment, and degrowth – Part 2

This is the second article in a multi-part series. To read the first article, click here.

Check out our cool new heat pump! (Author’s photo)

All right: we don’t really know what the cost of modern renewable energy technologies is going to be. One of the reasons that the debate over the cost of renewables is so uncertain is that there are a number of unresolved technical issues with renewable energy. The financial cost may not be the best indicator of the feasibility of renewables. A more relevant criterion may be “energy return on energy invested,” abbreviated EROEI (or sometimes, EROI). This standard doesn’t look at financial costs, but at energy costs. Continue reading “Technical issues with renewables”

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The costs of renewable energy

Climate, the environment, and degrowth – Part 1

Wind turbines in Cumbria, England. Source.

What would be the financial cost to build a renewable energy infrastructure to replace our current use of fossil fuels entirely (“100% renewable energy”)—or at least to eliminate net positive CO2 emissions (“net zero”)?

There are countless issues to discuss when it comes to climate change in the context of degrowth. But replacing fossil fuels with renewables is the “dominant aspirational pathway” for the climate-aware activists. So let’s start there. How much would such a “Green New Deal” cost?

Experts are really far apart on what such a world-wide renewable infrastructure would cost. Continue reading “The costs of renewable energy”

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Limits to growth means that MAGA will fail

Trump is doing really crazy (and illegal!) stuff. But can Trump (or anyone) “make America Great Again”?

He will likely fail, even if he’s appointed President for Life and can rule by decree. And that’s because of limits to economic growth. The reasons MAGA will fail also pertain to most Democratic party proposals for the economy as well. This doesn’t affect our tactics in resisting Trump (keep up those phone calls!), but it does alter our overall strategy. Continue reading “Limits to growth means that MAGA will fail”

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“Hot Enough For You?” in Oak Ridge

Sunday morning, October 27, at 8:45 am, I’ll be giving a talk on a radical approach to climate change—involving plant-based diets—at the First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The church is located at 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike. It will be held in Room 102 of the Activities Building (not the main building). The talk is for the “Let’s Talk About It” group which meets on Sunday mornings.

Questions? Send email to keith “at” CompassionateSpirit “dot” com.

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Who said that dealing with climate change was going to be easy?

Collards and solar panels – author photo

Effective climate action is not going to be easy. The difficulty is more than just a political problem of convincing people to take action. Actually taking action will “hurt the economy.”

That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take action anyway! The alternative seems to be destruction of much of the biosphere, and that’s going to “hurt” a lot more. The climate movement needs to acknowledge this. We need to say: “truly effective climate action is going to hurt. We need to do it anyway.” Continue reading “Who said that dealing with climate change was going to be easy?”

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What causes climate despair?

Of those surveyed, 3/8 believed they would be displaced by climate change.

Climate despair is real and complex. On Earth Day in 2022, Boulder activist Wynn Bruce set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court. “Burnout is at an all-time high,” says Climate Mobilization. Climate scientist Michael Mann decries “doomism,” while admitting that he himself falls into it at times.

Climate change is a depressing topic to begin with. If you are better informed, you also realize how bad it really is. The result can be climate despair, along with its siblings and cousins that go by many names such as eco-anxiety, climate change helplessness, and doomism. Continue reading “What causes climate despair?”

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Embracing Limits—coming on Earth Day!

Embracing Limits cover

My new book, Embracing Limits, will be published on Earth Day this year — April 22, 2023. The ebook version is already available for preorder on Amazon here. The print version is not yet available to order; you’ll have to wait until April 22 for that. Here’s what’s on the back cover:

RADICAL MEASURES ARE NECESSARY

If you’ve ever wondered where we’re headed, and what a truly sustainable future might look like—this is the book for you.
– – – –
Today’s civilization is like a kid with a credit card, thinking the party will never end. Politically speaking, there are no adults in the room. Perhaps there never were. Continue reading “Embracing Limits—coming on Earth Day!”

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Debate: Degrowth or Green Growth?

To save the planet, should we seek more economic growth, but just make sure that it respects planetary boundaries (“green growth”)? Or is there no alternative except to decrease total economic activity (“degrowth”)? About two weeks ago there was a fascinating debate on this critical and controversial topic now available on YouTube, which I recommend to everyone interested in what it’s actually going to take to deal with climate change. This is certainly an all-star cast—Jason Hickel, Sam Fankhauser, and Kate Raworth are all committed environmentalists and knowledgeable economists.

What do you think? Please feel free to make comments below. I have a few random thoughts but this isn’t a comprehensive analysis of the debate.

Continue reading “Debate: Degrowth or Green Growth?”

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Why divestiture?

One of the more interesting ideas for climate action is the idea of divesting in fossil fuels. If investing in fossil fuels stops or declines, fossil fuel industries will lose money and go out of business, and fewer fossil fuels will be burned. A number of groups and individuals have suggested this strategy.

This is actually an interesting idea because it represents something concrete that we can do. But how is this strategy supposed to work? If we are successful, what does this look like? Continue reading “Why divestiture?”

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“Code red for humanity” — what does this even mean?

The High Park Wildfire burns on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland on June 10, 2012. U. S. Forest Service photo (public domain).

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, says that the latest IPCC report is “a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable.” Of course, this is not news for many of us. How should we react to this?

Climate is a well-discussed problem, with a variety of “climate action plans” and a variety of climate groups to choose from. You’d think that we’d have action by now! Why is climate, despite all the attention it has gotten, such a difficult subject? Continue reading ““Code red for humanity” — what does this even mean?”

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Life After Fossil Fuels — review

Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy. Alice J. Friedemann. Lecture Notes in Energy 81. Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2021.

Most people assume that when fossil fuel use ends, we will probably be living with different types of renewable energy, mostly wind turbines and solar power. Allow Alice Friedemann (engineer, architect, and creator of EnergySkeptic.com), to puncture a few of your illusions.

I loved this book. Probably not everyone will be as nerdy about energy issues as I am, but for me it was just what the doctor ordered. Realistic, humorous, objective, this book is oddly hopeful in an apocalyptic sort of way. Alice Friedemann shows us that there is life after fossil fuels, even after the failure of all our dreams about alternative energy, and as industrial civilization crashes down around us. Continue reading “Life After Fossil Fuels — review”

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“Livestock and Climate Change” – part 4 (video)

Here are three concluding thoughts (strictly my own opinions) about the reception and impact of “Livestock and Climate Change,” by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang. It’s my opinion that the FAO is now dominated by the livestock industry, that “Livestock and Climate Change” represents only a minimum estimate of greenhouse gases due to livestock agriculture, and that we shouldn’t get distracted by the 51% figure.