Given the current climate emergency and the broader ecological breakdown that looms, there are few issues more pressing than that expressed by the single word: enough. Yet, it is possible to satisfy humanity’s universal needs fairly—and keep the world livable. By Stan Cox Yes! magazine What is enough? Put that question to any economist or politician, […]
Lately, you may have heard someone say that we have reached a “tipping point.” This year alone, with the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the sustained civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, we have witnessed dramatic shifts in our social and economic states of […]
Huge concrete data centres, permanently plugged into power plants and telephone exchanges, maintain much of online life. But the infrastructure behind internet-based cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, dogecoin and ethereum is more like a rusty travelling circus. And right now, that circus is on the road. By Peter Howson, Northumbria University, Newcastle The Conversation Bitcoin relies […]
Are there more environmentally friendly solutions that we could use instead of cash? Could cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, and payment cards be a sustainable solution, considering crypto has a considerable environmental impact? By Rossella Gangi Impakter Is Cash Environmentally Sustainable? Note-making and ATMs’ electricity consumption contributes significantly to global warming. European countries had agreed to increase […]
The nation’s transition from dirty to renewable energy is “nearing exponential growth”—a shift set to usher in “transformative” impacts within a handful of years. So declares the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) in its “U.S. Power Sector Outlook 2021” report released Wednesday. By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams Among the key findings (pdf) are that […]
Way way back, in the long long ago of 2015, when masks were mainly for Halloween and Trump was still allowed on social media, public relations giant Edelman decided that it was not good public relations to work for coal producers or climate deniers. By Climate Denier Roundup “Greenwashing, fake front groups, anything like that […]
As has become clear thanks to great reporting, the dirty energy industry is fighting dirty to stop climate action and weaken it where it can’t stop it, all while claiming that it’s Very Concerned about climate change. For example, Wednesday (after the bulk of this roundup was already drafted), ExxonMobil graciously embraced federal carbon sequestration — essentially asking for […]
Last week, a blast of bitter cold knocked out power across the country, hitting Texas especially hard. It left millions without heat in the coldest temperatures seen in those regions in decades. Grocery store shelves were bare, and water treatment plants went offline. In Texas alone, more than 30 people froze to death, suffered carbon […]
The price of bitcoin has reached US$50,000 (£36,095) – another all-time high. It’s hard to believe that 10,000 bitcoin would only buy a couple of pizzas ten years ago. It’s even stranger to think that bitcoins are completely virtual. You can’t hold one, except on a hard drive, and there’s no underlying asset to them. […]
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard Glick announced Thursday that he plans to ensure the commission does a better job of including environmental justice and equity matters in the commission’s decision-making process by creating a new senior position focused on that task. By Meteor Blades “I believe that the commission should more aggressively fulfill its responsibilities to […]
A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliances shows that America’s monopoly problem is bigger than you might think. While last year’s Big Tech hearings and House antitrust report spotlighted monopoly abuses at Amazon, Google, and other tech giants, the report from ILSR makes clear that America’s monopoly problem has spread into many other sectors […]
What a fitting way to wrap up the EcoRight Speak’s inaugural season. For our final episode, we feature Neil Chatterjee, a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulator Commission (FERC), in his words, “the most significant agency you’ve never heard of.” By Chelsea Henderson EcoRight News/ RepublicEN Commissioner Chatterjee served as FERC Chairman from August 2017 to December 2017 […]
Energy Insider brings us the story: In a report commissioned by Generation180, the amount of solar installed at K-12 schools has risen 139%. The report says that 7,332 schools nationwide now deploy solar power. That’s 5.5% of all K-12 public and private schools. By Meteor Blades The top five states for solar in schools are: California New Jersey Arizona Massachusetts Indiana. About 5.3 […]
As wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes sweep across North America, residents are bracing for the power outages that come with these extreme weather events. Strong winds can knock down electrical lines or blow dry vegetation like dead tree branches into power lines and ignite wildfires. Utilities may intentionally shut down targeted sections of power lines […]
As COVID-19 wreaks havoc across the U.S. economy, the oil and gas industry is a major casualty. U.S. petroleum consumption has fallen to its lowest level in decades due to travel restrictions and the economic slowdown. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts crude oil production will fall to 11.7 million barrels per day (b/d) this year and further to […]