Ending The Fossil Fuel Era

A provocative call for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, accompanied by case studies from Ecuador to Appalachia and from Germany to Norway. Not so long ago, people North and South had little reason to believe that wealth from oil, gas, and coal brought anything but great prosperity. But the presumption of net benefits from fossil fuels is eroding as widening circles of people rich and poor experience the downside. A positive transition to a post-fossil fuel era cannot wait for global agreement, a swap-in of renewables, a miracle technology, a carbon market, or lifestyle change. This book shows that it is now possible to take the first step toward the post-fossil fuel era, by resisting the slow violence of extreme extraction and combustion, exiting the industry, and imagining a good life after fossil fuels. It shows how an environmental politics of transition might occur, arguing for going to the source rather than managing byproducts, for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, for engaging a politics of deliberately choosing a post-fossil fuel world. Six case studies reveal how individuals, groups, communities, and an entire country have taken first steps out of the fossil fuel era, with experiments that range from leaving oil under the Amazon to ending mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

This dissertation makes the moral case for equitably transitioning away from fossil fuels in line with keeping global warming as close as possible to the Paris Climate Agreement’s more stringent target of keeping global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It argues that we should do so while relying as little as possible on risky and uncertain negative emissions and geoengineering technologies, as doing so might prolong the fossil fuel era and pose grave potential costs both to the present and future generations. The dissertation addresses a central objection to the moral imperative to transition away from fossil fuels, namely that it will detrimentally impact the poor and vulnerable. It argues in response that protecting the interests of the poor and vulnerable is best achieved through a rapid yet just transition away from fossil fuels. Based on the moral case to transition away from fossil fuels in line with 1.5°C the dissertation also explores what personal moral responsibility individuals have to take action to reduce fossil fuel usage and act on climate change. It does so by situating our moral responsibility in the context of what it argues is an emergency situation where need to rapidly and comprehensively move away from fossil fuels to avert catastrophic climate change and the immense harms associated with continued fossil fuel dependence. Based on the development of an Anti-Pollution Principle, it concludes that in the face of this emergency we have demanding moral responsibilities to reduce our personal emissions but which can be outweighed by the more important task of collectively pushing for deep, rapid, and comprehensive structural change away from fossil fuel dependency.

A provocative call for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, accompanied by case studies from Ecuador to Appalachia and from Germany to Norway.Not so long ago, people North and South had little reason to believe that wealth from oil, gas, and coal brought anything but great prosperity. But the presumption of net benefits from fossil fuels is eroding as widening circles of people rich and poor experience the downside.A positive transition to a post-fossil fuel era cannot wait for global agreement, a swap-in of renewables, a miracle technology, a carbon market, or lifestyle change. This book shows that it is now possible to take the first step toward the post-fossil fuel era, by resisting the slow violence of extreme extraction and combustion, exiting the industry, and imagining a good life after fossil fuels. It shows how an environmental politics of transition might occur, arguing for going to the source rather than managing byproducts, for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, for engaging a politics of deliberately choosing a post-fossil fuel world. Six case studies reveal how individuals, groups, communities, and an entire country have taken first steps out of the fossil fuel era, with experiments that range from leaving oil under the Amazon to ending mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

This edited collection proposes a wide range of approaches to address the legal issues pertaining to the end of the fossil fuel era. While the fossil fuel era is coming to an end both because of the inherent limits of its resources and because of the need to prevent to further pump out CO2 in an already saturated atmosphere, the legal dispositions to ensure an ordered and rational shift toward cleaner energy still need to be developed. Not only in relation to CO2 emissions themselves but also in relation to the manifold issues related to environmental justice in an era of global climate change and global warming. This book is unique in that it provides a theoretical framework but also works to address cutting edge issues through a series of case studies.

Ending the fossil fuel industry is the only credible path for climate policy Around the world, countries and companies are setting net-zero carbon emissions targets. But what will it mean if those targets are achieved? One possibility is that fossil fuel companies will continue to produce billions of tons of atmospheric CO2 while relying on a symbiotic industry to scrub the air clean. Focusing on emissions draws our attention away from the real problem: the point of production. The fossil fuel industry must come to an end but will not depart willingly; governments must intervene. By embracing a politics of rural-urban coalitions and platform governance, climate advocates can build the political power needed to nationalize the fossil fuel industry and use its resources to draw carbon out of the atmosphere.

Author Rex Tracy explores the contradictions inherent in commonly accepted myths and doomsday predictions that have dominated political discourse for decades in Dawn of the Fossil Fuel Era, making a powerful case against the prevailing idea that global oil production has either peaked or will soon. Tracy incorporates facts from leading authorities and firsthand sources, such as the revenue predictions of major oil companies and the United States government, to show where we actually stand regarding future oil production. We are living in an era of massive hydrocarbon abundance. And to prove it, Tracy uses hard evidence to call into question the widely held belief that the potential growth of the petroleum industry is limited, and the earth's supply of oil, being a limited resource, will inevitably run out shortly due to the extremely large quantities currently being extracted. Dawn of the Fossil Fuel Era was inspired by The Bottomless Well by Peter Huber and Mark Mills, one of the few books published in the past ten years that correctly predicted the current boom in oil production.

An industry insider offers a dramatic yet scientific look at the politics and reality surrounding global warming, the oil, gas, and auto industries' attempts to downplay the threat, and the progress of international legislation to change the course of global warming. The author, formerly a professor at the Royal School of Mines, became concerned about environmental issues and joined the international environmental organization Greenpeace. First published in 1999 by Penguin Books Ltd. c. Book News Inc.

Imagine fuel without fear. No climate change. No oil spills, no dead coalminers, no dirty air, no devastated lands, no lost wildlife. No energy poverty. No oil-fed wars, tyrannies, or terrorists. No leaking nuclear wastes or spreading nuclear weapons. Nothing to run out. Nothing to cut off. Nothing to worry about. Just energy abundance, benign and affordable, for all, forever. That richer, fairer, cooler, safer world is possible, practical, even profitable-because saving and replacing fossil fuels now works better and costs no more than buying and burning them. Reinventing Fire shows how business-motivated by profit, supported by civil society, sped by smart policy-can get the US completely off oil and coal by 2050, and later beyond natural gas as well. Authored by a world leader on energy and innovation, the book maps a robust path for integrating real, here-and-now, comprehensive energy solutions in four industries-transportation, buildings, electricity, and manufacturing-melding radically efficient energy use with reliable, secure, renewable energy supplies.Popular in tone and rooted in applied hope, Reinventing Fire shows how smart businesses are creating a potent, global, market-driven, and explosively growing movement to defossilize fuels. It points readers to trillions in savings over the next 40 years, and trillions more in new business opportunities.Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, this major contribution by world leaders in energy innovation offers startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.Pragmatic citizens today are more interested in outcomes than motives. Reinventing Fire answers this trans-ideological call. Whether you care most about national security, or jobs and competitive advantage, or climate and environment, its startling innovations will support your values, inspire your support, and transform your sense of possibility.

A history of the excesses of capitalism's rampant fossil fuel consumption since 1950.