record high oil and gas production in the US
As scientists tell us that the globe is experiencing its highest-ever recorded average temperatures this month, and as Democrats congratulate themselves for having enacted hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies for renewable energy, the US fossil fuel industry continues to expand. May 2023 (the most recent statistics we have) was a new all-time high for monthly oil and gas production in the US.
To me this shows the futility of the Democratic Party's approach to global warming. However much we may subsidize renewable energy, our production of oil and gas continues to grow under President Biden, as it did under President Obama. [It grew over 50% during Obama's eight years in office.]
And the US isn't special. According to figures released last month for all of 2022, global carbon emissions hit a new high last year. While the share of global energy derived from renewables continues to increase, the total amount of energy derived from fossil fuels also continues to increase.
So far, all we've done with renewable energy is increase the total amount of energy we produce and consume. We haven't replaced fossil fuels with renewables, we continue to produce and consume more of both.
I've lost count of how many times I've said this and written this, but the only way to reduce carbon emissions is to reduce carbon emissions. It doesn't help to produce more solar power if we don't reduce carbon emissions. It doesn't help to sort your trash into recycling bins if we don't reduce carbon emissions. It doesn't help to buy electric vehicles if we don't reduce carbon emissions. And the only way to reduce carbon emissions is to enact enforceable global limits on carbon emissions, which despite all the Kyoto & Paris & COP agreements ... we've never enacted enforceable global limits on carbon emissions. So carbon emissions continue to reach new record highs.
It's frustrating, but way more people think economic growth is more important than actually reducing carbon emissions. And even the typical person who cares about reducing carbon emissions doesn't want to reduce their own personal consumption. The "degrowth" folks are helplessly outnumbered. Although there is a stereotype that younger people care more about climate change than older people, the latest polling data shows that whatever age group you ask, the percentage who rank climate change as their most important issue is in single digits. There is no demographic group that ranks climate change as their most important issue. White people in the US are more worried about immigration than about climate change.
In order to attract the votes and donations of those who do care about climate change, Democrats offer non-solutions that only sound like solutions. And the world's leaders continue to make a show of meeting and debating and agreeing on unenforceable goals. But it doesn't matter. We collectively continue to burn more fossil fuels each year, except for temporary reductions during economic recessions.
I don't know what to say anymore on this topic. Even my own personal game of reducing my own consumption merely shifts my consumption from me to other people via my charitable giving. I'd have to literally burn cash instead of giving it away if I wanted to reduce net consumption. But meanwhile the Federal Reserve will create trillions of additional dollars if necessary to stimulate economic growth during recessions, so ... ... whatever cash I burn, they'll replace to keep consumption growing.
Will the increasingly warm planet convince enough people to change their behaviors? I don't think there's any way to know the answer to this until it happens or not. A warming planet may only convince more people to use air conditioning to stay cool indoors, even if that means burning more fossil fuels to generate the electricity required.
Oh well, at least I've let off some steam by writing this. Time to get out of bed and start my day.
To me this shows the futility of the Democratic Party's approach to global warming. However much we may subsidize renewable energy, our production of oil and gas continues to grow under President Biden, as it did under President Obama. [It grew over 50% during Obama's eight years in office.]
And the US isn't special. According to figures released last month for all of 2022, global carbon emissions hit a new high last year. While the share of global energy derived from renewables continues to increase, the total amount of energy derived from fossil fuels also continues to increase.
So far, all we've done with renewable energy is increase the total amount of energy we produce and consume. We haven't replaced fossil fuels with renewables, we continue to produce and consume more of both.
I've lost count of how many times I've said this and written this, but the only way to reduce carbon emissions is to reduce carbon emissions. It doesn't help to produce more solar power if we don't reduce carbon emissions. It doesn't help to sort your trash into recycling bins if we don't reduce carbon emissions. It doesn't help to buy electric vehicles if we don't reduce carbon emissions. And the only way to reduce carbon emissions is to enact enforceable global limits on carbon emissions, which despite all the Kyoto & Paris & COP agreements ... we've never enacted enforceable global limits on carbon emissions. So carbon emissions continue to reach new record highs.
It's frustrating, but way more people think economic growth is more important than actually reducing carbon emissions. And even the typical person who cares about reducing carbon emissions doesn't want to reduce their own personal consumption. The "degrowth" folks are helplessly outnumbered. Although there is a stereotype that younger people care more about climate change than older people, the latest polling data shows that whatever age group you ask, the percentage who rank climate change as their most important issue is in single digits. There is no demographic group that ranks climate change as their most important issue. White people in the US are more worried about immigration than about climate change.
In order to attract the votes and donations of those who do care about climate change, Democrats offer non-solutions that only sound like solutions. And the world's leaders continue to make a show of meeting and debating and agreeing on unenforceable goals. But it doesn't matter. We collectively continue to burn more fossil fuels each year, except for temporary reductions during economic recessions.
I don't know what to say anymore on this topic. Even my own personal game of reducing my own consumption merely shifts my consumption from me to other people via my charitable giving. I'd have to literally burn cash instead of giving it away if I wanted to reduce net consumption. But meanwhile the Federal Reserve will create trillions of additional dollars if necessary to stimulate economic growth during recessions, so ... ... whatever cash I burn, they'll replace to keep consumption growing.
Will the increasingly warm planet convince enough people to change their behaviors? I don't think there's any way to know the answer to this until it happens or not. A warming planet may only convince more people to use air conditioning to stay cool indoors, even if that means burning more fossil fuels to generate the electricity required.
Oh well, at least I've let off some steam by writing this. Time to get out of bed and start my day.