We don’t need high-tech innovation to create a sustainable future for humanity. In fact, all the tech we need to regenerate our ecosystem and provide a good life for all already exists. In the interest of exploring the already-existing technology of the ecological future, I’ve written about three of my favorites.
Oil in the North Sea is expected to be net-energy negative by 2031. This means that in 2031, it’ll cost more energy to extract the fossil fuels than we would gain by using them, rendering extraction unfeasibly expensive. Yet, rather than use our remaining years of access to these fuels to turbo-charge new energy infrastructure, fossil fuels are being extracted and burned for business as usual: quick cash. Around the world, the lights will go off in nations that don’t have back-up renewables. That’s most of them.
An open letter says plans for five new liquefied natural gas facilities do not align with global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 C
Dozens of climate-action groups are calling on the B.C. government to halt plans to expand liquefied natural gas production because of the climate crisis.
Up to a third of Africa’s great apes are threatened by a boom in mining projects for minerals required for the renewable energy transition, new research shows.
In perhaps one of the great ironies of human civilisation, mechanical devices to truly magnify human power came along as soon as we didn’t need them. Pedal-powered devices like bicycles only appeared after coal had already begun to transform the landscape, however – mass production was necessary for the standardised metal parts — and around the same time that gasoline was first being introduced as a fuel for automobiles.
The federal government provided at least $18.5 billion to the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries last year, according to a new report by Environmental Defence.
The largest single subsidy was to Trans Mountain, which benefited from $8 billion in loan guarantees to try to get its nearly completed $35-billion pipeline expansion project to the finish line.
Despite commitments to align their portfolios with net-zero emissions, Canada’s largest banks are increasingly financing fossil fuel companies and pushing their decarbonization goals out of reach.
