Ecology

Renewable Energy

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What is renewable energy? Energy harvested directly from the sun, wind and water is renewable. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas is not renewable no matter how this is done, because it instantly wastes the energy from sunlight that took thousands or millions of years to capture. Burning crops is not renewable and subtracts from land that could be used for growing crops for people. Carbon capture technology is not renewable because plants do this more efficiently than machinery and they don’t remove the carbon from important biological cycles. Nuclear energy is not renewable and it is unsafe at every step: from mining to processing to power generation to disposal, and its wastes are unsafe for millions of years

We need more solar energy, but it makes little sense to cut down trees to put up solar panels, which some developers are actually doing. Preserving as many of our dwindling forests, wetlands, meadows, coastlines and farms as possible is essential. It makes more sense to place solar panels over buildings, parking lots (providing shade), landfills, abandoned oil fields, and train lines before leveling forests for solar panels. Land reserved for road expansion is better used for electric train lines with solar panels above them.

Windmills are another useful form of renewable energy. Objections to windmills for obstructing a view, when coming exclusively from very wealthy people, are less important than providing more renewable energy.

Other Climate and Pollution Considerations

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Trees provide shade, cooling and oxygen, reduce runoff, and increase rainfall. They remove harmful carbon dioxide and bacteria from the atmosphere. Wetlands draw down even more carbon dioxide than forests. Coastal mangroves protect coastlines from erosion. Forests, wetlands and coastal mangroves need to be protected and expanded, not removed for human habitation and cropland.

Factory farms cram farm animals into small spaces where they stand in their own waste. Artificial fertilizers and pesticides pollute the environment, and along with single crop farming, make crops vulnerable to disease, kill beneficial bacteria and fungi, and deplete the soil of minerals. Healthy soil practices, such as minimal tilling, crop rotation, cover crops in winter, organic practices and interspersing trees with crops, go a long way to drawing down carbon and supplying healthier foods. Growing crops high in protein for people (beans, peas, mushrooms and whole grains), uses less energy, land and water, and creates less greenhouse gases than food for the animals we eat for protein¹⁹. Farmers need to be supported by strong legislation and funding to help them transition to these types of practices. Also, fish stocks have been over-harvested and need to be allowed to recover.

There is a concerted effort to convert private vehicles from gasoline to electric, yet less effort is being applied to increasing the availability of public transportation. Expanding and electrifying public transportation is more ecologically efficient than electrifying personal vehicles. For example, public transportation uses less energy per passenger and uses less rare minerals than need to be mined for building batteries. This mining is toxic to the people and environment where this is done.

Many people live in apartments or attached homes where they have no access to electric charging for vehicles, or only shared access. It makes sense to electrify commuter rail, subway and bus services and expand bus and rail services. Not everyone goes to a central downtown area to work or shop. Many commute from one city to another, so it makes sense to improve public transportation between cities. In sprawling suburbs and rural areas, there could be public livery services.

Nine Planetary Boundaries

There are nine planetary boundaries, which when crossed, set in motion destabilizing processes. These processes interact with each other, and if unchecked, disrupt the entire Earth ecosystem, making most life impossible. These boundaries and processes are:

- Climate Change (including high atmospheric carbon)

- Biodiversity Loss (extinction rate of 10 species per million per year)

- Ocean Acidification

- Land Use Changes (including deforestation)

- Biogeochemical (nitrogen and phosphorus) loading

- Freshwater use

- Atmospheric Aerosol Loading

- “Novel Entities” (Chemical pollution)

- Ozone Depletion

As of 2023, we’ve already crossed 6 of the 9 boundaries (climate change, biodiversity loss, land use changes, nitrogen and phosphorous loading, chemical pollution, and freshwater use). Ocean acidification is nearing its boundary.

As agricultural output and fresh water supplies decline, people are displaced and governments destabilized. Unless processes including fossil fuel use, deforestation, inorganic agriculture, fresh water use and land conversion for living space continue, these changes will become irreversible, and most life on Earth will be impossible. Technology alone cannot reverse these processes.

Degrowth vs Green Growth

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A debate took place at Oxford University on Sept. 2, 2022, With Professor Samuel Fankhauser for Green Growth and Professor Jason Hickel for Degrowth, moderated by Kate Raworth in a packed auditorium. The debate was entitled “How to Save the Planet: Degrowth vs Green Growth?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxJrBR0lg6s I paraphrase below.

Major points by Fankhauser for Green Growth

- GDP is not just a measure of production but also a measure of income.

- There is room for some growth, if it is in green tech, before a green economy becomes too large for the environment

- It is hard to fund climate solutions when the economic pie is shrunk

- It is politically difficult to call for climate solutions or degrowth when the economy goes down, such as during a recession or cost of living crisis. People want jobs, etc when this happens.

- It would be very difficult to shift the political consensus in favor of degrowth fast enough to reduce climate change.

- The green tech changes we need require a major investment.

Major points by Hickel for Degrowth (he had the same time to speak but talked a lot faster)

- Definition of Degrowth: A planned and democratic reduction of less necessary forms of production in rich countries to bring economies back into balance with the living world in a safe, just and equitable way.

- Capitalism is different from markets and (small) businesses, which existed before capitalism. Capitalism is about perpetual accumulation and increasing profits. 1% of the population controls what is produced. It is not designed to meet human needs.

- The global north’s use of energy and resources is greater than needed to provide for human needs. They drain the global south of energy and resources which they could instead devote to their own development and needs. The G.N. offshores the ecological costs of growth.

- Rich countries still have lots of poverty because their societies are organized by and for capital, not for the needs of the larger population.

- Green growth – savings from efficiency, while a good thing, are offset by increased production. Green growth usually includes bioenergy with carbon capture, which requires deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Any unchecked growth in the G.N. perpetuates colonial inequalities and requires more material extraction.

- Degrowth is not anti-tech, but tech and efficiency are not enough. Instead of growth, we need to focus on equity and access to public services – housing, nutritious food, healthcare, education, public transportation, heat, internet, etc. These things should be decommodified. We need to build more renewable energy and insulate homes. Where we can scale down is on other areas of production – private jets, SUVs, air travel, single use packaging, advertising, planned obsolescence, etc. These are popular issues with the majority of people, just not with the ruling class.

- To achieve these goals we need economic democracy – democratizing the workplace, public services, media. We need wealth taxes and income redistribution. These are also popular issues, again just not with the ruling class, and none of these can be obtained without a struggle and organization. With work democratized and focused on the general wellbeing, we can shorten the work week, share labor, promote gender equality, etc.

- Recession and cost of living crises are caused by capitalism – the system of constant growth is required by capitalism and the restraints caused during recessions are on working people not on the ruling class.