Where Good Is Bad: ‘The Energy of Slaves’ (Oil as ‘servitude’?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 16, 2017 8 Comments

“To many of us, our current spending of fossil fuels appears as morally correct as did human slavery to the Romans or the Atlantic slave trade to seventeenth-century British businessmen.”

– Andrew Nikiforuk, The Energy of Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2012), p. xi.

A ran across a 2012 book by Andrew Nikiforuk, The Energy of Slaves: Oil and the New Servitude, sponsored by the David Suzuki Foundation and published by Greystone Books.

In it, I encountered a unique (okay, strange) application of Malthusianism to energy. And I found the author taking the present author head on. I like that, good or bad.

The thesis of Nikiforuk’s book is that yes, fossil fuels (and oil in particular) has greatly enabled mankind in a multitude of tasks.…

Energy & Environmental Newsletter: September 25, 2017

By John Droz, Jr. -- September 25, 2017 1 Comment

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Four people die in helicopter crash near major NC wind project

PhD: Massachusetts wind turbine study is junk science

Alert: Integrating the Social Cost of Carbon into NYS Utility Pricing

Societal Benefits of Fossil Fuels

Study: Hidden consequences of intermittent electricity production

Study: Vermont Energy Goal Numbers Don’t Add up

Unwinding Failing Renewables Policies

The EPA Needs to Stick to its Knitting

Global Warming: Who Are The Deniers Now?…

State Department Climate Pullback (remembering Tillerson’s 2013 views)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 14, 2017 5 Comments

“How do you want to deal with that great social challenge? To what good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers in the process of those efforts when you don’t know exactly what your impacts are going to be? So we [at ExxonMobil] have taken a much more balanced view and we said let’s manage the things, we know how to do manage today.” – Rex Tillerson (2013)

“Rex Tillerson just took the State Department another step back from acting on climate change,” laments Samantha Page at ThinkProgress (Center for American Progress). “This is part of a streamlining that reduced a number of special envoy positions as redundant or outdated.”

Jeffrey Sachs’s Hurricane Harvey Hate Speech (Houstonians, Texans should be offended)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 30, 2017 12 Comments

“Gov. Abbott, we would like to bid you a political adieu. Perhaps you can devote your time to rebuilding Houston and taking night classes in climate science.”

“And to ExxonMobil, Chevron, Koch Industries, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, and other oil giants doing your business in Texas: You put up the first $25 billion in Houston disaster relief. Call it compensation for your emissions. Tell the truth about growing climate threats. Then, as citizens seeking the common good, we will match your stake.”

Jeffrey Sachs, “Sachs: Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott Needs to Resign,” CNN Opinion, August 29, 2017.

“Sachs: Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott Needs to Resign,” screams the headline at CNN Opinion.

The author is Jeffrey Sachs, head of Columbia University’s The Earth Institute, which defines itself as “blend[ing] research in the physical and social sciences, education, and practical solutions to help guide the world onto a path toward sustainability.”…