Horse demand famously peaked when cars were just 3 percent of their number, and gas lighting demand peaked when electric lighting was just 2 percent of supply. The consequence of peaking demand for fossil fuels has been playing out for a number of years now, in sector after sector. Peak demand for coal meant lower prices for US coal and …
Climate change: Masculine marketing of utility vehicles linked to rising emissions
22 March 2020, New Zealand Herald, citing New Zealand Medical Journal Promoting hefty trucks and SUVs as macho status symbols could be linked to climate change, according to a new study about New Zealand’s rising vehicle emissions. The research paper Beasts, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal last quarter, found that light utility vehicles were both the heaviest emitters of carbon …
O&G leaving a mess behind, Warren and Bruenig’s conditions for stimulus
Excerpt from NYTimes, March 2020. The $700 billion bank bailout elicited a voter backlash, which means any aid this time is likely to have large strings attached. Those could include limits on executive compensation, prohibitions on stock buybacks and, most prominent, measures to force bailed out companies to keep workers on their payrolls. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, released an …
Customer-Focused Alternatives to Gas Will Provide Health Benefits and Local Economic Development. Direct building emissions from gas contribute 10 percent of nation’s total GHG pollution.
Last year, New York’s legislature and Governor Cuomo made a major commitment to climate action, passing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The CLCPA commits the state to emissions reductions of 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050. Along the way, New York’s electricity system must be 70 percent renewable by 2030 and 100 …
Oregon’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard: Oregon climate change: Governor’s new plan leans on supersizing the Clean Fuels Program
Mar 15, by Ted Sickinger| The Oregonian/OregonLive One of the most definitive pieces of the executive order that Gov. Kate Brown signed Tuesday to reduce Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions was her direction to extend and strengthen Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program. It’s a program most Oregonians don’t even know exists. And it’s one that Republicans, and fossil fuels industry, have loved to hate. When it …
Shell’s activities in Ogoniland region of Nigeria have led to polluted air and water as well as decimated natural habitats, violating the rights of the 832,000 people who live there
From Common Dreams, March 2020 350.org surveyed the region of Ogoniland in Nigeria, where Shell Oil has dumped an estimated nine to 13 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta since 1958. “Companies are actively disregarding the right of entire populations to a healthy environment, sufficient and quality food, and a political and social scenario of stability.”—Aaron Packard, …
Approaches Cities Are Taking and Law on Municipal Gas Bans
The bans in California and Massachusetts rely on different sources of authority. Many of the California bans are structured as amendments to the local building codes. In that state, municipalities are permitted to adopt building energy code provisions that are more stringent than the state code with California Energy Commission approval. San Jose, Menlo Park, San Mateo, West Hollywood and …
Deserted oil wells haunt Los Angeles with toxic fumes and enormous cleanup costs
By MARK OLALDE, RYAN MENEZES, LA Times, MARCH 6, 2020 Thick oil was once so abundant beneath Southern California that it bubbled to the surface, most famously at the La Brea Tar Pits. But after more than a century of aggressive drilling by fossil fuel companies, most of Los Angeles’ profitable oil is gone. What remains is a costly legacy: nearly …
Canadian Doctors Demand Fracking Moratoria on Health and Climate Grounds
By Staff, Talkfracking.orgJanuary 31, 2020 | EDUCATE! Canadian medical professionals yesterday called for a fracking moratorium based on health and climate grounds. The released paper – Fractures in the Bridge – is a review of fracking evidence, written by doctors from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE). Canada is the fourth-largest global producer of gas and oil, accounting for five per cent of …
In Colorado, outdoor recreation is a $28 billion industry that directly generates 229,000 jobs and has become an intrinsic value among Coloradans, with over 70% of residents participating in outdoor recreation each year. Fossil fuel extraction threatens this.
In Colorado, outdoor recreation is a $28 billion industry that directly generates 229,000 jobs and has become an intrinsic value among Coloradans, with over 70% of residents participating in outdoor recreation each year. However, this booming economic sector, which generates $887 billion in national consumer spending annually, is threatened by the Trump administration’s public lands agenda, which has exacerbated speculative oil and gas …