government

  1. Politics and Policy

Dispelling Common Myths About Fossil Fuel Costs

Written by Jane Marsh

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Providing further insight into common perceptions about the costs of Fossil Fuels:

  • 1. “Rising energy costs demand more fossil fuel production"
  • 2. “Fewer regulations would lower fuel costs"
  • 3. “Weaning ourselves off fossil fuels is impractical"

What are the inherent costs of delaying our transition from conventional energy sources? Relying on fossil fuels as our primary energy source isn't sustainable and inevitably just drives prices up even further as sources become more scare.

The US Government spent $1 trillion in subsidising fossil fuels which ultimately hinders our progress to transition to cleaner energy sources, and relaxing corporate regulation comes at great risk to our environment as seen in the fracking industry.

However, our approach to everyday living and the small changes and decisions we make now can have huge impact and help drive off our reliance on fossil fuels as our primary energy source.

Dig deeper —> 7 min
  1. Politics and Policy

Global inequality highest in decades

Written by Jared Wolf
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The scoop: The World Bank projects extreme poverty to rise for the first time since the 1990s, while 270 million people are at risk of starvation (2x higher than 2019).

Lockdowns and inequality: 20+ million Americans are still unemployed. 160,000 US business have closed. Despite that, Amazon, Wal-Mart and Costco (for example) are posting record high online sales.

What can we do? Go beyond SBA loans and stimulus checks. We should like, actually be doing everything we can to keep small business owners afloat.

Local coffee shops > Starbucks, Thrift > Marshall's, Art galleries for Home Decor > Amazon.

Bottom line: We can clean up this institutional mess by creating a new structure around congressional term limits, monopoly break-ups, whistleblower support, and free speech... or we can allow the same actors to weave the world we've grown to love and hate.

Dig deeper → 3 min
  1. Politics and Policy

US doesn’t need Paris agreement to play ball on climate

Written by Jared Wolf
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The scoop: Biden vowed to sign the Paris agreement in his first day in office. As an environmentalist, I think it's all hype no action.

Why Paris no bien:

  1. It's a pledge, not a policy. There's no binding enforcement mechanism. So a country like Russia or Mexico can agree to it, but it doesn't hold them accountable.
  2. It lets China off the hook. China, the #1 carbon emitter in the world, can hide behind the US if we re-join it. If the US led the world on climate policy without Paris, it would expose China's energy reality (they are slated to make up nearly half of global coal demand in 2024).

Bottom line: We get it, Trump sucks and he left the Paris agreement so the Paris agreement must be amazing. Well, the Paris agreement is ultimately not that significant in terms of climate action. Policy reform > pretty pictures

Dig deeper → 2 min

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