May I suggest a small modification to your climate policy wish list?
The article describes it like this:
"In a world where the U.S. actually took meaningful steps to solve climate change, replacing the petrochemicals in footballs would be fairly low on the priority list. Increasing renewable energy capacity, increasing sustainable public transportation, improving farming practices and energy efficiency, and protecting old-growth forests are at the top of most climate policy wish lists. "
Instead of "Increasing renewable energy CAPACITY" please consider "Increasing clean energy PRODUCTION."
Production is what lowers fossil fuel use, not capacity. That's especially true if a significant portion of the capacity is idle much of the time.
I honestly think we can still use fossil fuels for these small use cases even in a Net-Zero world without doing any harm to the environment. Don't see it as any different than people burning logs during a camping trip.
Personally, I'm fine with a few wells producing O&G for plastics. Have well-armed EPA inspectors watching for CH4 leakage at every step.
Let them keep those wells, and stop burning the rest of it. The only CCS that really works is burying plastic crap in landfills. Though I probably missed something about long term degradation of that plastic crap to methane or worse.
Great, informative article and yeah fossil fuel companies are going to do everything they can to keep the current trajectory of fossil fuel use, or even increase it, anyway they can. And they will try to keep the public thinking that things people enjoy, can't exist without fossil fuels.
Also a small part of the article but something that stood out, "We asked Madeleine Orr, a sports ecologist at Loughborough University London, who is developing the world's first Masters program in sport and sustainability. "
This is just awesome imo. I'm glad that more and more people are thinking about sustainability in areas not usually considered necessary to be sustainable, and huge props to Madeleine Orr for developing that program.
Longer interview with her maybe? I would be interested in learning more about her program.
May I suggest a small modification to your climate policy wish list?
The article describes it like this:
"In a world where the U.S. actually took meaningful steps to solve climate change, replacing the petrochemicals in footballs would be fairly low on the priority list. Increasing renewable energy capacity, increasing sustainable public transportation, improving farming practices and energy efficiency, and protecting old-growth forests are at the top of most climate policy wish lists. "
Instead of "Increasing renewable energy CAPACITY" please consider "Increasing clean energy PRODUCTION."
Production is what lowers fossil fuel use, not capacity. That's especially true if a significant portion of the capacity is idle much of the time.
I honestly think we can still use fossil fuels for these small use cases even in a Net-Zero world without doing any harm to the environment. Don't see it as any different than people burning logs during a camping trip.
Personally, I'm fine with a few wells producing O&G for plastics. Have well-armed EPA inspectors watching for CH4 leakage at every step.
Let them keep those wells, and stop burning the rest of it. The only CCS that really works is burying plastic crap in landfills. Though I probably missed something about long term degradation of that plastic crap to methane or worse.
Don’t threaten me with a good time
Using football as a political football. It would be funnier if the planetary implications weren't so grim.
Great, informative article and yeah fossil fuel companies are going to do everything they can to keep the current trajectory of fossil fuel use, or even increase it, anyway they can. And they will try to keep the public thinking that things people enjoy, can't exist without fossil fuels.
Also a small part of the article but something that stood out, "We asked Madeleine Orr, a sports ecologist at Loughborough University London, who is developing the world's first Masters program in sport and sustainability. "
This is just awesome imo. I'm glad that more and more people are thinking about sustainability in areas not usually considered necessary to be sustainable, and huge props to Madeleine Orr for developing that program.
Longer interview with her maybe? I would be interested in learning more about her program.
Excellent piece. Any idea what agency did this work?