Frequent commenter Glenn Doty, one of the brightest and best-informed people I’ve ever met, writes this in response to my piece on the Obama Administration’s cancelling all offshore drilling leases in our Arctic Ocean for the next two years and …
Category: Fossil Fuels
Our Approach To Energy on Planet Earth: The Oil Companies Against the Rest of the World—But Is This Really Necessary?
According to the Writer’s Almanac, it’s the 90th birthday of American political humorist Art Buchwald (pictured). They write: Buchwald began writing political satire when President Eisenhower made a trip to France. His humorous articles caught the attention of Eisenhower’s press …
Do Fossil Fuels Pose a Risk To Our Civilization?
Here’s a debate between Dr. Bill McKibben, arguably the world’s best-known environmentalist, debating Alex Epstein (pictured), devotee of Ayn Rand, on the value of fossil fuels in today’s world. We all appreciate that coal, oil, and natural gas played a …
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Coal: Coming to the End of the Line
It’s a cruel irony that coal miners are fighting so hard to retain their disease-ridden way of life, given its deadly effects on its participants. Yes, all 7.3 billion of us denizens of Earth will breathe more easily (literally) when …
Keystone Pipeline Protests Aren't the Only Visible Aspect of Downtown Santa Barbara
Outside of tourists, the most common thing you’ll see on the main drag in Santa Barbara (State St.) is protest marchers. In 2013, my wife, my daughter and I did our thing re: the KXL Pipeline. A less common sight: pianos. …
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Dialog on Coal as an Energy Source
Frequent commenter MarcoPolo makes two interesting points in his recent post: 1) It’s hypocritical for some Americans to smugly claim a moral victory for less U.S. emissions, while exporting emissions-creating industries overseas, while as customers, re-importing the manufactured products of …
In the Absence of an Energy Policy, Shell’s Withdrawal from the Arctic Is Far from the Last Word on the Subject
With the Alaskan pipeline (pictured) flowing at only about one-quarter capacity, one can only imagine the disappointment that the governor of the state, Bill Walker, felt about yesterday’s announcement that Shell Oil had scrapped its plans to drill in the …
Tagged with: Alaskan pipeline, energy policy, governor Bill Walker, migrate away from fossil fuels (especially oil and coal) at the maximum possible rate that is sane and practical, opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, Shell’s Withdrawal from the Arctic, We need to get some oil in the pipeline quick
Shell Abandons Arctic Drilling
After encountering crude deposits of disappointing size, Shell has decided to withdraw from oil exploration in the arctic, meaning that, at least for now, the assault on that pristine environment will not go forward. Obviously, it’s a great moment for …
Big Oil Faces Big Legal Trouble
As I predicted a few years ago, the oil companies are headed in the direction that the tobacco industry took 50 years ago. They: • Conducted research that confirms the damage that its product causes • Aggressively denyied the truth …
The Two Faces of Fossil Fuel Consumption
Here’s an interesting article that analyses the schizophrenic nature of our society. We know that climate change is caused in large measure by the consumption of fossil fuels, but we spend $200 billion per year subsidizing them. Spoiler alert: The …
