CelloMom On CarsJun 22, 2023

"Some argue that rapidly scaling back #FossilFuel production would leave billions of pounds of “stranded assets”, [and] would impoverish the public through a fall in the value of #savings and #PensionFunds.

The study found that in high-income countries two-thirds of the financial losses would be borne by the most affluent 10%.

Just 3.5% of financial losses from #StrandedAssets would affect the poorest half of Americans & could easily be compensated for by government."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/22/fossil-fuel-assets-loss-study

Loss of fossil fuel assets would not impoverish general public, study finds

Research allays fears that rapid scaling back of production would hit people’s savings and pensions hard

The Guardian
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 22, 2023

Finally, the discussion turns to WHO stands to gain or lose by a clean #EnergyTransition.

The owners of #FossilFuel company shares (that is, the affluent and the powerful) stand to lose.

Everyone stands to gain from the stable #climate, the clean air and water.

And the people who are now the most "disadvantaged" (read: whose needs are ignored) have the *most* to gain from cleaning up our energy sources.

THIS is the roadblock to the energy transition.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/22/fossil-fuel-assets-loss-study

Loss of fossil fuel assets would not impoverish general public, study finds

Research allays fears that rapid scaling back of production would hit people’s savings and pensions hard

The Guardian
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 22, 2023

The study ^^ found that in high-income countries two-thirds of the financial losses from #StrandedAssets would be borne by the most affluent 10%.

This is simply because the most affluent 10% have two thirds of the wealth.

Data below from USAFacts
https://usafacts.org/topics/wealth-savings/

US Wealth & Savings Statistics and Data Trends: household wealth, wealth distribution, and more

Find statistics and data trends about wealth and savings in the US. This includes median household net worth, the distribution of overall wealth in the US, homeownership rates, and savings rates.

USAFacts
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 23, 2023

We need to emphasize this at every turn: We live in a fossil fueled #austerity now, and can have a clean-energy powered #abundance (borrowing from Rebecca Solnit here).

An abundance of clean air.
An abundance of jobs.
An abundance of community.
Vast savings on health care costs and other averted climate damages.

Let's go!

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/04/electrify-everything-scope-data/

What "electrify everything" actually looks like

Get ready for a US building spree not seen in generations.

Mother Jones
Show threadDoomsdaysCWJun 24, 2023
@CelloMomOnCars Maybe we shouldn't electrify everything -- as in, why not make better non-motorized products? Like push-mowers, line drying, etc. I had a friend in Vermont who lived off the grid. If you wanted to watch TV, you had to peddle a stationary bike hooked up to a generator. We should be doing more of this type of thing, imho.
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 24, 2023

@DoomsdaysCW

As much as I agree with you (we use a push mower and sun-drying, have no tv, and locally mostly ride a bike -- and love all this), effecting these changes on a massive scale requires a culture change.

Getting everyone to ditch their car and take the bus or the bike takes culture change.

Culture change takes a long time. Can we pull that off in the time required?

My town's bike committee has been there for six decades and all we got is a bunch of sharrows.

Show threadDoomsdaysCWJun 24, 2023
@CelloMomOnCars If the grid goes down, the culture will change very quickly.
Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 24, 2023

@DoomsdaysCW

Would it?
The grid went down in Texas and in the fossil fuel corner they're shouting for more fossil gas power plants.

In Europe they lost the Russian gas supply last year and they unwrapped their old coal plants.

The UK government is still refusing to subsidize home insulation.

Show threadDoomsdaysCWJun 24, 2023
@CelloMomOnCars You wrote: "The UK government is still refusing to subsidize home insulation." What the heck?!! That's criminal!
Show threadCelloMom On Cars

@DoomsdaysCW

They are.
A group named Insulate Britain mounted a campaign. When no-one listened, they went direct action, gluing themselves onto motorways and such.
They were arrested.
They were not allowed to mention climate change in their defense. (Meaning, they were banned from using the necessity defense). The UK is a strange place these days.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/13/insulate-britain-activists-found-guilty-blockade

Insulate Britain activists found guilty over London roadblock

Jury found Helen Redfern, Simon Reding and Catherine Rennie-Nash guilty of public nuisance over 2021 Bishopsgate protest

The Guardian
Jun 24, 2023 at 9:39pmWeb
Show threadDoomsdaysCWJun 24, 2023
@CelloMomOnCars Wow!
Show threadSyulangJun 25, 2023

@CelloMomOnCars @DoomsdaysCW - I've got family in the UK, and it's genuinely scary how batsh*t insane that place has become. They are literally arresting academics and scientists who speak out against the regime. On pretty much every metric, the place is a dumpster fire of denialism, authoritarianism and magical thinking. Local government councillors staring directly at sewage washing up on their beaches and saying with a straight face to the local press that the brown sewage mixed in with tampons and condoms is "seaweed and blooming photoplankton"

It's easy to laugh at our coal fondling Lib-nats, but the situation in the UK is ten times more creepy, because there's a degree of stockholm syndrome among much of the population that just doesn't really exist here - and the UK govt knows it and plays on it. It's creepy and disturbing, and I genuinely worry for my family there.

Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 25, 2023

@Syulang @DoomsdaysCW

It is indeed extremely worrisome. Under Liz Truss the UK Tories' policies were deemed on the right of the already rabid US GOP.

The brutal repression of protest.
The brutal immigration policy.
The handling of the covid pandemic.
The Frack & Drill policies.
The neglect of the NHS until it can be sold to the highest bidder.
Brexit was only the last straw, if you ask me.

Show threadCelloMom On CarsJun 25, 2023

@Syulang @DoomsdaysCW

I am so sorry you have to worry about your family in the UK.
If it helps any, Sunak must call a general election for no later than 28 January 2025.

In the recent local elections the Tories already suffered defeat, voters are connecting the dots.