Old approaches to new problems generally fail… the world is failing the requisite variety test on this one. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/12/15/ertd-d15.html

Every step of prevarication is a step closer to guillotines #justsayin For the past two weeks, the world’s best and brightest have been meeting in Dubai — under a glittering, color-changing dome built to resemble Islamic geometric art — as the petrostate hosts the United Nations’ latest climate change conference. And experts are calling bull. In interviews with The…

Slouching towards solutions… From 2024 onwards, solar and wind facilities in the US will generate more electricity than the country’s diminishing fleet of coal-fired power plants, according to the department of energy. The world’s largest economy will likely add 23 gigawatts (GW) of new solar in 2023, alongside 9GW of battery storage capacity. It’s on…

So I guess OPEC is at the denial stage of grief… Oil-producing countries are apparently succeeding in their attempts to eliminate language from an international climate agreement that calls for countries to phase out the use of fossil fuels. Draft forms of the agreement had included text that called upon the countries that are part…

Panic? Maybe… but it does feel like the last throw of the die for the oil producers. I’m getting all those “last days of big tobacco” vibes. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The full-scale resistance that oil-exporting countries are mounting against a COP28 deal to end fossil fuel use is a sign of “panic,” said…

Ignoring the fact that Norway is now regretting a car-centric move to electrification… this is an interesting example of how action can happen (and it involves A-ha) Suitably impressed, they set about importing a similar specimen into Norway. They exploited every photo opportunity, and campaigned to make EVs the cheapest, most convenient option by abolishing…

Stan is going to be grimly prescient. As climate change intensifies scarcity and conflict over resources, it displaces people and spreads disease. In Syria, extreme drought has forced more than 1.5 million farmers to move to overcrowded cities. Water shortages and degraded land have exacerbated existing government rights abuses and civil unrest. With over 12 million displaced Syrians,…