Energy Production and Transportation
The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024
In the first `100 days of 2024 we will explore 100 climate solutions that may “empower you to evaluate, engage, and act” to address on-going climate change as an individual on your terms.
The IPCC defines decarbonization as the “human actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from human activities.” Since the mid 1800s we have firmly established a global society that relies on the burning of fossil fuels to operate.. that operates with the wholesale, global emissions of carbon-based greenhouse gases.
Now, to mitigate the most catastrophic effects of climate change from greenhouse gas pollution, we will have to rapidly change the way society operates by rapidly phasing out the use of fossil fuels. This change involves the considerable risk that in solving a global existential problem, we will cause undue hardship and devastation locally.
Why? Because the technical solutions required to address global climate change require new raw materials: not the extraction of coal and gas, but of metals and minerals to make solar panels, wind turbines, energy storage, and the technology to establish a hydrogen economy.
Wars have been fought over fossil fuels. The shifting dynamics of world politics are starting to motivate nations to secure vast quantities of raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, and graphite to ensure “first mover” advantages in the new clean energy economy. This will involve establishing new mining and processing infrastructure with the very real probability of subjecting disadvantaged populations to pollution and toxic waste.
While the urgency to implement critical new solutions is very real, because (as Heidi points out) the work must often be done “in places with weak environmental regulations and labor safety practices”, it will mean generating and enforcing global policies and regulations to protect the health of the affected populations.
“… it is critical to advocate for an ethical, just, and sustainable transition in places where resource extraction occurs.”
Heidi Roop
To be “conservative” often means being resistant to change or reluctant to embrace disruption of the status quo. Mitigating the effects of and adapting to climate change involves changing the way society operates at a global scale – “business as usual” is not an option that allows for life on the planet by the end of this century. By this logic, the types of technology transitions that are necessary for the long-term survival of the humans on this planet are therefore “radical”.
The danger, of course, is that in the process of implementing these potentially life-saving measures, lives are lost through reckless and callous action. Implemented equitably, in the long run, the wholesale implementation of “climate solutions” like electric vehicles, carbon capture, and hydrogen holds the promise for meeting the reduction of emissions needed to address climate change.
As the comedian John Mulaney quipped, “it is so much easier not to do things than to do them”. Doing nothing is not an option for climate change. The challenge is to do the right things (with urgency) and make sure they are done equitably.
Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 10: Drive and Commute Mindfully
Howard Creel
#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com