Individual actions such as driving less or buying less are good and necessary, but they are not sufficient.
The real change we need to make is SYSTEM CHANGE.
The head of the world's largest energy company on Monday urged the world to accept the "hard realities" that oil and natural gas will be around for a long time to come, and consumption of both sources of energy is likely to grow for at least the next decade or two.
In a speech at a Houston energy conference, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser described the ambitious timetables of environmental groups as failing because the world continues to consume record amounts of fossil fuels every year.
"We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead invest in them adequately reflecting realistic demand assumptions," he said.
Oil consumption will reach a new record of 104 million barrels per day this year, Nasser said, and could keep growing through 2045.
@breadandcircuses there's that old dorothy parker quote: "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."
a good corollary is, if you want to know what kind of system capitalism is, just look at the sociopaths it elevates to power. is there any other system of human self-organization that so reliably seats absolute ghouls at the top of its hierarchy?
As sad as it may sound, but more devastating, deadly catastrophes will probably need to hit the rich, industrial countries for them to fully realize that they're racing towards an civilizational abyss. Only if a big city or two are taken away by floods or ravaged by forest fires, killing thousands of people, will the masses maybe start to feel fear for their existence and stand up to demand action.
Otherwise the rich caste's grip on media, politics, and economy will remain ironclad.
Start by eliminating ALL subsidies for oil, eliminating the shell company games played between exploration, production and marketing…and create cradle to grave responsibility chain.for their product.
"The head of the world's largest energy company on Monday urged the world to accept the "hard realities" that the climate crisis will be around for a long time to come, and disasters are very likely to grow for at least the next decade or two.”
On the plus side, this guy makes a lot of money, and that’s what really counts, right? He’s a winner!
@breadandcircuses I don't know, but doesn't he sound a little bit desperate? Whistling in the dark forest.
He knows the time is up for him and his cronies, so he phantasizes a different world without change.
@breadandcircuses OPEC (which, of course, includes Saudi Arabia) intend to invest a fantastic sum of money in the oil sector until 2045 - money which would go down the drain if fossil fuels were phased out before then. But oil & gas run out in the 2070s anyway (coal lasts until the 22nd Century). They are relying on Say's Law - supply creating its own demand - so Nasser's argument is entirely specious. See my https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/j5pe6.