Bill McKibben's New Climate Change Paradigm: It's War.

[freedom fighter jh]

The new enemies are carbon dioxide and methane. We need to take them as seriously as we once took Hitler and Mussolini.

https://newrepublic.com/article/135684/declare-war-climate-change-mobilize-wwii?utm=350org

[RapSoDee]

1. "...with each passing week, another 22,000 square miles of Arctic ice disappears."

Damn Republicans need to stop lying about reality, and let America move forward with a plan to address this HUGE issue, which will impact every many, woman and child....

[freedom fighter jh]

3. Arctic ice is the Northern Hemisphere's cooling system.

Once it's gone, we can expect to see a spike in temperature.

Yes, Republicans need to stop lying. And Democrats need to stop offering weak sauce. Climate change needs to be treated like the emergency it is. I hope McKibben's war metaphor will help this issue get the attention it deserves.

[burfman]

2. We are almost at the point where economics will favor renewable energy

Couldn't hurt at all to push things along though.

Burfman.....


check out this graph from the Wikipedia page on the price of electricity generation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source

[freedom fighter jh]

4. Nice graph.

It's lovely to see onshore wind coming in cheaper than either coal or nuclear.

I have not studied up on this, could be wrong, but to my knowledge the big energy giants like Exxon Mobil have invested a great deal in fossil fuel reserves but little or none in renewables. Thus they may have incentive to use their considerable political muscle to somehow keep that favorable economic situation from controlling the market. What could they do? They could get subsidies for themselves while making sure there are none for anyone else. I'm just speculating, trying to see what could go wrong.

Good to see you, Burfman.

[burfman]

5. Good point, but a company like Exxon may jump back in

Way back in the past (Jimmy Carter era) Exxon was looking into solar cells. They may be tempted to jump in again now that the prices have dropped to the point where it is economical. It may not matter in any event what the oil companies do. Most solar cells are currently made in China I believe, they don't have a lot of oil, their countries air is really polluted in places and they are making a good chunk of change making the cells (and wind turbines too). So yeah Exxon and the like could slow down progress here somewhat if they really wanted to, but world wide it might not make much of a difference.

Good to see you again too ffjh!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/exxon-predicted-today-s-cheap-solar-boom-back-in-the-1980s