Today, energy policy is everybody’s business, and everyone should understand the policy choices and trade-offs under discussion. Which energy sources cause the most damage to natural habitats and which produce the most greenhouse gas pollution? What are the health and economic ramifications of mountaintop-removal coal mining? Will new technology and renewables solve all our energy […]
We envision a bold leap toward a future energy economy that fosters beauty and health; that is resilient because it emphasizes renewable, community-scale energy generation; that supports durable economies, not growth; and that is informed by nature’s wisdom. Recognizing that all human economic activity is a subset of nature’s economy and must not degrade its […]
There are few routes for tar sands oil to travel from the point of extraction in central Canada to the ports that are gateways to global markets. One is the controversial Keystone pipeline, heading south to the Gulf of Mexico. Another is the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would travel west from Alberta through British […]
A new, global rush to embrace biofuels—for transport, heat, and electricity—is a growing threat to ecosystems, wildlife, human health, and the climate. The trend poses the danger of increased commodification of forests, greater competition between food and energy markets, and even more pressure on the world’s rural poor that depend upon local biomass for their […]
Protecting areas from resource extraction is the one sure way to address the paradox that energy production and consumption are both powering and destroying our civilization. At least half of planet Earth’s land and surface waters should be in protected areas dedicated to nature conservation to conserve biological diversity and stabilize the climate. Securing “Nature’s […]
Despite increasingly worrying scientific evidence, worsening extreme weather disasters, and years of advocacy by the major environmental groups, political leaders in the United States have not acted seriously on climate change. Because efforts to push climate change action through regular political channels have clearly failed, a mass movement of grassroots citizen activism is necessary. This […]
Fossil fuels created modern civilization, but their rising costs—to health, security, and economic progress—are starting to eclipse their benefits, undermining the prosperity and security they enabled. At the same time, technological innovation has quietly been making fossil fuels obsolete. In history’s greatest infrastructure shift, spanning the entire economy, humans are inventing a new fire: not […]
It would be wise to approach our energy future with two related thoughts in mind: first, the precautionary principle, and second, the law of unintended consequences. Using that perspective, this section of the book reviews the major energy resources and their transportation methods. We consider the current status of each resource as well as any other […]
Gas hydrates are a frozen form of methane found in Arctic regions as well as under the seabed. Commercially exploiting gas hydrates on any significant scale may prove to be extremely challenging—but if successful, it would prolong our dependency on fossil fuels and contribute to ever-growing greenhouse gas emissions. This is a chapter from The […]
Global fossil fuel consumption has accelerated rapidly over the last few decades, requiring an enormous stream of resources to meet even current demand. Claims that future demand can be met simply by opening new areas to exploration and increasing production of relatively new resources like deepwater oil, tar sands, shale oil, oil shale, and shale […]