They Grew Up Around Fossil Fuels. Now, Their Jobs Are in Renewables. They come from places where fossil fuels like coal provided lifelong employment for their parents, grandparents and neighbors. They found a different path, but not necessarily out of a deep environmental commitment. In America today there is more employment in wind and solar power than in mining and burning coal. And a job’s a job.
New York Times 26th March 2019 read more »
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Republicans in a fiery speech after the Senate blocked a motion to take up the Green New Deal, the progressive climate change plan spearheaded by Democrats. The congresswoman delivered a scathing rebuke to a Republican representative who depicted the environmental proposals as elitist during a financial services committee hearing on Tuesday. Ms Ocasio-Cortez said: “This is not an elitist issue, this is a quality of life issue. You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist? “Tell that to the kids of the South Bronx who are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. Tell that to the families in Flint, whose kids have their blood ascending in lead levels; their brains are damaged for the rest of their lives. Call them elitist. People are dying … This is serious. This should not be a partisan issue.”
Independent 27th March 2019 read more »
Although nuclear is often touted as an ultra-efficient and therefore affordable as well as clean alternative to fossil fuels, some states are beginning to discover that this is not necessarily the case as their local governments pour more and more money into nuclear plant subsidies only to see the nuclear industry come back with palms outstretched again and again. One such state is Connecticut, where local news source the Connecticut Mirror just published a direct-to-the-point op-ed aptly titled “Nuclear plants will require ever-increasing subsidies”. The author Joel Gordes, a Connecticut-based energy and environmental strategist, argues that since the very beginning of nuclear energy in their country, when the argument for the resource was that nuclear energy was dirt cheap, nuclear has been deceptively pricey and getting pricier all the time.
Oil Price 27th March 2019 read more »