The problem of climate denial, as with other environmental issues in the USA is political, with economic, indvidual age, and education related aspects.
The oil and gas lobbies spend close to three times what environmental groups spend to influence elections, the vast majority going to Republicans The real subsidies are in the tax code, where fossil fuel investments can now be written off in the same year they are made, generous tax credits, etc. The companies reward politicians at the state and federal level for leaning hard to favor them, and it shows up on your energy bills. We spend an inordinate amount of our dwindling national treasure to fight wars that benefit the fossil fuel companies by propping up prices, that shows up as inflation which is trending up.
The main driver for moving toward renewables is economic, the cost of wind and sunshine not varying like fuels in our unstable world. The sector will win out eventually here, as it already is internationally, China and India have put renewables in place much faster, so they will be in a better position to compete economically.
There are many more younger adults who are concerned with global warming than older Americans. Some older citizens have hope that our young people will eventually solve the problem, a convenient position that allows older folks with money to not change, while younger people are unable to buy housing, much less deploy much capital.
Our education system favors memorization over critical thinking, exhibited by a health care system that neglects the power of food vs. patented chemistry and marketing groups that push the junk food that makes is fat. We are growing a nation of people who are easily enslaved by media, which is controlled by those with money,
America is on a decline, we have chosen the wrong paths. The coming political backlash of dissatisfaction will hurt our country's stability and welfare near term.
We desparately need to tune into reality vs. the artificial stories and blatant political lies we have been fed. Vote judiciously and consistently.
I do think an element that goes with this is taking meaningful, concrete actions that are fully in our control. To reduce emissions. To be kind to our neighbor. To highlight actual data when emotions may be ruling a conversation. And, yes, absolutely to vote.
thanks for the work here Jim. So my request is we keep carbon offset options on the table. My mom loves to travel but I always browbeat her to pay for the offsets of her flying so she is supporting exceptional projects like methane land fill energy generation and eliminating her impact. I agree it would be better if she just didn't do the flying but I don't think that's reasonable. Plus projects at $8.50 per ton make it very affordable. It's an easy way to absolve or guilt and these really are amazing projects that have multiple positive impacts. Happy to share where I buy mine if you like. Cheers!
Yes, offset credits are definitely a topic I plan to cover. Spoiler alert - I question the “accounting standard” where BOTH PARTIES claim credit for the same emission reduction (the person buying the offset credit AND the people who installed the windfarm or landfill gas system). Happy to discuss more - but I need to flush out my logic more and test drive my reasoning before posting more in writing. In the short term, I might suggest exploring real credits to capture and remove CO2 - like the Technology Based credits from Climeworks - but these run closer to $1,000 per ton. https://climeworks.com/actnow
Guilty as charged. The numbers presented here don’t surprise me, but they do underline where dramatic changes need to happen. The United States needs to be the leader, but sadly is headed in the opposite direction. Guilt needn’t be the motivation for change. The desire should come from a deep sense that change, individual and collective, can help our planet heal. At the same time, the numbers are sobering, and are an indictment upon developed countries that, in large part, are inflicting the damaging results of climate upon themselves and the rest of the world. Let’s continue to seek solutions that can move the arrow in the right direction.
I really agree that guilt does not need to be part of a person’s motivation. This column focuses on constructive ways to change and constructive actions to take. And yet, some framing of the issue is also important occasionally. As you point out, the numbers are sobering. For those of us in the top 10%, I hope the nudge is taken constructively.
The problem of climate denial, as with other environmental issues in the USA is political, with economic, indvidual age, and education related aspects.
The oil and gas lobbies spend close to three times what environmental groups spend to influence elections, the vast majority going to Republicans The real subsidies are in the tax code, where fossil fuel investments can now be written off in the same year they are made, generous tax credits, etc. The companies reward politicians at the state and federal level for leaning hard to favor them, and it shows up on your energy bills. We spend an inordinate amount of our dwindling national treasure to fight wars that benefit the fossil fuel companies by propping up prices, that shows up as inflation which is trending up.
The main driver for moving toward renewables is economic, the cost of wind and sunshine not varying like fuels in our unstable world. The sector will win out eventually here, as it already is internationally, China and India have put renewables in place much faster, so they will be in a better position to compete economically.
There are many more younger adults who are concerned with global warming than older Americans. Some older citizens have hope that our young people will eventually solve the problem, a convenient position that allows older folks with money to not change, while younger people are unable to buy housing, much less deploy much capital.
Our education system favors memorization over critical thinking, exhibited by a health care system that neglects the power of food vs. patented chemistry and marketing groups that push the junk food that makes is fat. We are growing a nation of people who are easily enslaved by media, which is controlled by those with money,
America is on a decline, we have chosen the wrong paths. The coming political backlash of dissatisfaction will hurt our country's stability and welfare near term.
We desparately need to tune into reality vs. the artificial stories and blatant political lies we have been fed. Vote judiciously and consistently.
I do think an element that goes with this is taking meaningful, concrete actions that are fully in our control. To reduce emissions. To be kind to our neighbor. To highlight actual data when emotions may be ruling a conversation. And, yes, absolutely to vote.
thanks for the work here Jim. So my request is we keep carbon offset options on the table. My mom loves to travel but I always browbeat her to pay for the offsets of her flying so she is supporting exceptional projects like methane land fill energy generation and eliminating her impact. I agree it would be better if she just didn't do the flying but I don't think that's reasonable. Plus projects at $8.50 per ton make it very affordable. It's an easy way to absolve or guilt and these really are amazing projects that have multiple positive impacts. Happy to share where I buy mine if you like. Cheers!
Yes, offset credits are definitely a topic I plan to cover. Spoiler alert - I question the “accounting standard” where BOTH PARTIES claim credit for the same emission reduction (the person buying the offset credit AND the people who installed the windfarm or landfill gas system). Happy to discuss more - but I need to flush out my logic more and test drive my reasoning before posting more in writing. In the short term, I might suggest exploring real credits to capture and remove CO2 - like the Technology Based credits from Climeworks - but these run closer to $1,000 per ton. https://climeworks.com/actnow
Guilty as charged. The numbers presented here don’t surprise me, but they do underline where dramatic changes need to happen. The United States needs to be the leader, but sadly is headed in the opposite direction. Guilt needn’t be the motivation for change. The desire should come from a deep sense that change, individual and collective, can help our planet heal. At the same time, the numbers are sobering, and are an indictment upon developed countries that, in large part, are inflicting the damaging results of climate upon themselves and the rest of the world. Let’s continue to seek solutions that can move the arrow in the right direction.
I really agree that guilt does not need to be part of a person’s motivation. This column focuses on constructive ways to change and constructive actions to take. And yet, some framing of the issue is also important occasionally. As you point out, the numbers are sobering. For those of us in the top 10%, I hope the nudge is taken constructively.