James Belcher’s Post

Meanwhile...

[2017]

"Corruption does matter, of course, but it is not the root cause of Kenya’s debt crisis."

"We urgently need a ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages, respite for the people of Gaza, and a meaningful opportunity for healing to begin." — Scott Anderson, United Nations https://lnkd.in/gRbsjjZC

"We must demand more from leaders in our movement."

"As concerns mount over Biden, the Democratic Party reminds us this isn’t a democracy."

Is the green transition inevitable? People have been asserting for a while that we're moving from fossil fuels to renewables. On the surface, it seems like a solid argument: Renewables are cheaper and drawing more investment, so the shift away from fossil fuels is just a matter of time. Except...how much time are we talking about? And are we really giving up fossil fuels? As of now, I see energy addition, not replacement. It's business-as-usual PLUS renewables. Energy and resource usage in rich countries was well over planetary boundaries before the current data center boom. Now there are multiple reports that increased demand is delaying long-planned decarbonization. Optimists assert that these are blips, with the world as a whole deploying renewables at a rate that will ensure the transition. Suzuki makes the case as well as anyone, acknowledging the need to both leave fossil fuels in the ground and to use less energy overall. But those things won't happen on their own, and they're certainly not a given. Until I see national plans for decommissioning fossil fuel infrastructure, I remain skeptical. Until we're actually leaving them in the ground, we're not "ending fossil fuels". We're perpetuating the problems that got us here, and grandfathering in the global north's fundamentally unsustainable rates of consumption.