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The rationales and motives vary for pushing the absurd idea that people can’t ever use a resource they protest against. They range from an innocent misunderstanding of how protest works, how the world works, how complex our modern world is, how dependent we’ve become on various technologies — to a cynical attempt to crush all protest. The bottom line for me is this:
I don’t give a shit what they say. It has less than zero impact on what the protests mean, what the protesters stand for, and what they’re trying to accomplish. The best thing we can do as human beings who care about the planet is to absoLUTELY ignore the voices accusing those protesters of hypocrisy. They’re not worth a second of our time. They’re either too ignorant to understand what they’re demanding of people, or they know full well that if their words were heeded, all protests of this kind would be nearly impossible — or, at best, severely weakened. The people pushing this meme, through their useful idiots, fall into the latter category.
The follow up is this:
IF there were several options available for energy, then those protesters would be able to be “saintly” from the getgo. Not only are they protesting the immediate impact of pollution on their waterways and sacred lands, in effect they’re protesting the lack of those options.
Fossil fuel dominates the landscape. There are very few available alternatives, if we seek eco-friendly options — at the moment. Environmentalists are calling for, first, a radical increase in those choices, and second, phasing out all fossil fuel production. As quickly as is humanly possible. But while fossil fuels dominate, it’s next to impossible to avoid them if we want to gather in one place for protests, or seminars, or hearings, etc. etc.
It’s a process. Holding environmentalists to a standard of non-use is ludicrous, for so many reasons, one of them being there are next to no available alternatives. The more those alternatives come online — a goal of environmentalists — the more protesters will commit to non-use. We all win when that happens, and anyone who stands in the way of this in effect seeks the destruction of the planet.
bnw, each time by now that you use the rightie “aha hypocrisy” move, people here just simply read it as partisan gameplaying.
You can do it all you want, but I promise you, it will never be taken as anything more than that.
It’s just one of your go-to “be a partisan” moves.
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Partisan? No. The truth hurts so you ostrich about? Got it. Yet the hypocrisy remains. Protesting petroleum when you rely upon it to get to your protest is the height of hypocrisy. That I promise you.
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
The USA is criminally negligent when it comes to renewable energy, and criminally negligent when it comes to all things “green.”
If tiny Costa Rico can do it, we can. And it’s not alone in this. Many nations now can meet the majority of their energy needs via “green” technologies, without resorting to fossil fuels.
Costa Rica has gone 76 straight days using 100% renewable electricity Updated by Brad Plumer on September 8, 2016, 11:20 a.m. ET @bradplumer brad@vox.com
Excerpt:
Costa Rica is pulling off a feat most countries just daydream about: For two straight months, the Central American country hasn’t burned any fossil fuels to generate electricity. That’s right: 100 percent renewable power.
This isn’t a blip, either. For 300 total days last year and 150 days so far this year, Costa Rica’s electricity has come entirely from renewable sources, mostly hydropower and geothermal. Heavy rains have helped four big hydroelectric dams run above their usual capacity, letting the country turn off its diesel generators.
Uruguay is another great example for us to emulate:
Uruguay makes dramatic shift to nearly 95% electricity from clean energy
As the world gathers in Paris for the daunting task of switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, one small country on the other side of the Atlantic is making that transition look childishly simple and affordable.
In less than 10 years, Uruguay has slashed its carbon footprint without government subsidies or higher consumer costs, according to the country’s head of climate change policy, Ramón Méndez.
In fact, he says that now that renewables provide 94.5% of the country’s electricity, prices are lower than in the past relative to inflation. There are also fewer power cuts because a diverse energy mix means greater resilience to droughts.
Germany is having remarkable success moving away from fossil fuels as well.
Germany Just Got Almost All of Its Power From Renewable Energy
Wind, solar, biomass and hydro met demand on Sunday afternoon
Angela Merkel’s Energiewende is squeezing coal and gas marginsClean power supplied almost all of Germany’s power demand for the first time on Sunday, marking a milestone for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “Energiewende” policy to boost renewables while phasing out nuclear and fossil fuels.
Solar and wind power peaked at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, allowing renewables to supply 45.5 gigawatts as demand was 45.8 gigawatts, according to provisional data by Agora Energiewende, a research institute in Berlin. Power prices turned negative during several 15-minute periods yesterday, dropping as low as minus 50 euros ($57) a megawatt-hour, according to data from Epex Spot.
Here’s the graph from the article:
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