Charlie on Pen-L sent a link to an interesting blog by Michael Klare, who is one of the world's foremost authorities about the politics of oil. Although I have a lot of respect for Klare, I think his latest blog makes two serious errors in judgment:
(1) Klare underestimates how time critical the situation is. Capitalism is moving now in the right direction, largely because the cost of renewable electricity has fallen faster than expected. But the leaders are still dragging their feet. We are no longer on a business as usual pathway, but we are far away from the aggressive decarbonization of the world economy that has become necessary to make up for the decades of dithering. Klare writes about the end of the Fossil Fuel area: > "This shift will take place no matter how well or poorly the deal just > achieved at the U.N. climate summit in Paris is carried out. Here Klare deviates from the consensus view that it matters very much that and how well this deal will be implemented. We are facing a five-year deadline, which means: if we make the switch in time, then lots of recent investment will be devalued prematurely. This cannot be done with market-based means, this requires what some have called a "pro-active state." And the movement which Klare correctly sees in electricity generation is not yet there in Klare's own specialty, namely, transportation fuels. A shift towards sustainable transportation was not even on the table in Paris. (2) Klare underestimates the depth of changes necessary to make the human world economy sustainable. He seems to think it can be done with capitalist means, and that renewable energy can be a drop-in replacement for fossil fuels. Many others, including myself, think it will require a radical transformation of every aspect of human life. We not only have to prevent climate change but also stop species extinctions, save our oceans, and stop polluting air, water, and soil. If we do not manage to switch from a life with far fewer material amenities but more community we will lose amenities, community, and the recent achievements of freedom and civilization, and will perhaps put the survival of the human species at risk. BTW, here is the link to Klare's blog again: http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176080/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_go_green_young_woman%2C_young_man Hans G Ehrbar _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
