Mastodawn

Interesting to think that Donald Trump may have, completely inadvertently and at a horrific cost, finally woken up the world to how urgent it is we get off our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels.
Electrify everything.
Ban the production of gasoline-powered vehicles.
Tax oil companies dry.
Subsidize all renewables and EVs.

Joel VanderWerf Mar 9

@petergleick I feel like we're in an Asimov story where Trump is remembered thousands of years hence for this one contribution to human progress.

François @Jura Mar 9

@joelvanderwerf @petergleick

Trump’s contribution to human progress: a very nice oxy-moron

✶Rayotron✶Mar 9

@FrancoisPrague @joelvanderwerf @petergleick

Trump is oxymoronic? I thought he was C02 moronic.

Andrew Zonenberg Mar 9

@petergleick I don't understand why more governments around the world don't see "our entire economy revolves around an expensive quantity in limited supply, primarily found in one of the most war-torn and politically unstable regions in the planet" as a serious national security risk.

Like, forget all of the environmental concerns, if your country were utterly dependent on corn or steel or any other commodity only found in a region that was constantly at war causing random price spikes, you'd think you'd be making removal of that dependency a nationwide priority.

@azonenberg @petergleick

Sounds like a supply chain risk 😜

@azonenberg @petergleick I guess it’s partly because many of the people in those governments have vast amounts of personal wealth coming from the companies that produce those commodities.

@azonenberg dependancy on politically high risk countries again does not pay out, it literally only pays out for the polititians signing the contracts. Green - renewable energy - is available in independance of politics as long as the sun shines and the wind blows.
And there lies the answer why our politicians cling so hard on fossil resources: it fills their personal pockets.
#politics #energycrisis #TrumpEpsteinFilesDistractionAttemptWar
@petergleick
edit: 1 typo removed

"Mediocre Bunny" Evelyn Mar 9

@azonenberg @petergleick
But (and I am not enough of a political scholar to really know this), isn’t it the dependency of powerful nations on a crucial commodity in less powerful nations that leads to a lot of that political instability?
A global switch to renewable energy (which, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for) could be expected to heighten tensions in areas rich in say, lithium, while some oil-rich areas might finally cool off.

Andrew Zonenberg Mar 9

@Gorfram @petergleick to some extent but the 3 major abrahamic faiths have been at each other's throats over the region for millennia (I won't even get into Sunni vs Shiite infighting etc). The tribes of Afghanistan haven't got along for ages either although I don't think the conflict is quiiite as old.

Adding oil disputes to the mix is just another match on a dumpster fire that's been burning for generations. The region would have been a massive supply chain risk no matter what.

Roger Moore Mar 9

@Gorfram @azonenberg @petergleick
There's a key difference: batteries can be recycled. Fossil fuels are taken out of the ground, burned, and released into the air. Batteries gradually degrade over time, but the valuable materials in them can be recovered and used to make new batteries.

Roger Moore Mar 9

@Gorfram @azonenberg @petergleick
I strongly recommend a recent video from @TechConnectify that talks about this at length. He makes a very clear distinction between reusable energy infrastructure, like solar panels and rechargeable batteries, and consumables like fossil fuels.

https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM?si=T71MHlqDSm1I07Q5

You are being misled about renewable energy technology.

YouTube

🔶Mark Nicoll 3.5%🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇳Mar 9

@azonenberg @petergleick
it's constantly at war because if the US, Russia, and/or Europe isn't starting wars there, it's selling weapons to warlords, dictators, and other repressive regimes there.
It's almost as if the massive oil companies and non middle eastern oil producing countries benefit from the instability of supply from there, and the sudden price hikes that result from these conflicts.

@azonenberg @petergleick Worth reading these in relation to food production/supply. Very long read!
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:codfx2epdduamfycuyi5fjpb/post/3mgn7w7anxc23

George Monbiot (@georgemonbiot.bsky.social)

In 2023, I sought to explain to a parliamentary committee what a structural collapse of the global food system would look like, and why this this is plausible - even likely. I think the likelihood has just ratcheted up a notch. I beg you to read and understand. Thanks https://www.monbiot.com/2023/03/09/the-hunger-gap/

Bluesky Social

@petergleick ...also: massively subsidize trains and other public transports, too.

BeeCycling Mar 9

@dryak @petergleick And repeal the zoning laws that prevent businesses setting up in suburbs, forcing Americans living there to have to travel miles for things Europeans can stroll around the corner to get.

@beecycling @petergleick Yup, that's another thing that we enjoy in our corner of the world.
That and bikeable city center (even if we're not the Netherlands, we still have it very good in some Swiss cities)

revenge of the boltzmann brain Mar 9

@petergleick it didn't happen 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine so why should it be different this time.

As an example: Germany just now abandoned legislation demanding carbon neutral heating in new buildings and actively tries to undermine the EU wide ban of new ICE vehicles starting 2035.

David Culley Mar 10

@robert Yes, but their decisions are deeply unpopular even with companies, and even the companies are starting to revolt against it.

Jeff Atwood Mar 9

@petergleick 💯

I bet there are queues forming at EV car yards.

Trump doing more to promote EVs than any marketing program before him.

Oil company execs caught between joy at high oil prices and dispair at EV take up, regardless of their disinformation campaigns.

Eggs now in different baskets.Mar 9

@petergleick 1/2 Perhaps in the middle of all of this we can not lose sight of the fact that, modern electric cars are, from a data privacy perspective an absolute disaster and incredibly invasive.

I do not want to give up my anonymous petrol-engined car that cannot leak any data and cannot be hacked remotely until I can buy an electric car that has these features.

Get rid of the iPads in the middle of dashboards. And the surveillance cameras festooned all over the cars.

Eggs now in different baskets.Mar 9

@petergleick 2/2 With open FOSS computer systems that are free of the control of surveillance capitalist billionaires.

Such that I can install LinuxMint Nissan Leaf Edition and rid myself of all financial dependencies on corporations who really do not need to fleece me or anyone else any more.

And rid myself of the inevitable enshittifiction that follows closed source walled garden digital ecosystems.

https://youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ

A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator

YouTube

@the_wub @petergleick This is not a feature of electric cars, but of all modern cars.

Eggs now in different baskets.Mar 9

@IcyBee @petergleick Yes correct, but I live in a country where 16 petrol cars were sold last month. After a total of 487 petrol vehicles sold in the whole of 2025.

So when I have money for one of todays new cars, in about 15 years time when depreciation has given me a helping hand it is unlikely that there will be any secondhand petrol cars for sale.

https://www.abcnyheter.no/livsstil/norge-2026-bare-16-nye-bensinbiler-er-registrert/1441927

Norge 2026: Bare 16 nye bensinbiler er registrert

Trenden fra 2025 slår enda tydeligere ut i år.

ABC Nyheter

@the_wub @petergleick Keep an eye on Slate Auto. They're promising no data connection on their EV trucks. They're doing it to cut costs, but it happens to be a privacy bonus.

Eggs now in different baskets.Mar 9

@kbob @petergleick

I am aware of Slate but no thanks. I might as well buy a Tesla if I really want to support a billionaire.

In such a scenario I would prefer to wait until batteries are small enough to provide a weight to range ratio closer to that of a fossil fueled car and convert one of my old cars to an EV. Or buy an L7e class car with the minimum of electronics in it.

https://www.newsweek.com/slate-auto-confirms-funding-bezos-involvement-2069605

Slate Confirms $700 Million in Funding, Bezos Investment

Slate Auto, the startup electric vehicle manufacturer, confirmed to Newsweek that the company closed on $700 million in Series A and B funding in late 2024.

Newsweek

BeeCycling Mar 9

@the_wub @petergleick The best alternative to a petrol driven car is no car. (Though it's going to take a lot of work to get America to the point where not having a car is viable for most people, given the way they've ruined their cities.)

Eggs now in different baskets.Mar 9

@beecycling @petergleick Living without a car would be very different in this bit of rural Norway.

We are nowhere as remote from services as many people in the US are.

So I think that cars are going to be an essential part of our lives for some time to come.

Do we want surveillance economy vehicles that make billionaires richer or do we want something else that we have much more control over that meet our transport needs in similar ways?

Sue Nethercott Mar 9

@petergleick and he's getting rid of a large stockpile of weapons. But not nuclear weapons, thank goodness. Not that way.

That would indeed be at least some light at the end of this tunnel…

daniel lublin Mar 9

@petergleick ...and stop producing electricity from fossil fuels and other non-renewables

Peet Tetteroo Mar 9

Clinton Anderson SwordForHire Mar 9

#FuckOilAndGas
#JustStopOil
#StopBurningStuff
#LeaveItInTheGround

Captain Jack Sparrow Mar 9

why, what has he said?

swggrkllr3rd Mar 9

@petergleick Personally I think the middle east petro contries are linked to epstein case. They get dirt on these politicians from the west so they keep voting fossil fuel.

Anand Moro Mar 9

@petergleick Can't do it as long as OPEC is dominantly and aggressively lobbying for fossil fuels, and also lining up pockets of politicians all over the world.🤫

Face Thumb Mar 9

@petergleick Today climate activist, Donald Trump has invaded yet another middle eastern country, driving the price of oil up worldwide and shown the world that fossil fuels are not the answer.

Rhyme Repartee Mar 9

The crazy rhing is that #electrifyeverything and #renewables have brushed by price parity some time ago and financially, they are all lower cost.

#Fossilfuels like large SUVs and Detroits supersized pickups are propelled by a legacy marketing triumph, and now, pure disinformatiom by market players and their thinktank operatives.

swggrkllr3rd Mar 9

@petergleick Industrial scale Ocean Heat Exchangers powering industrial scale turbines generating electrical power.

Here a land based system in the UK. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewzg77k721o

Earth's heat to produce electricity for homes in UK clean energy first

Water super-heated by rocks will also provide the UK's first domestic supply of the critical mineral lithium.

It's not just an environmental thing now, it's a strategic and security necessity to stop depending on oil.

schamspeare Mar 9

@petergleick They will never wake up. The US is a YOLO empire. Money now. Fuck tomorrow.

DJ Sexy Fresh Mar 9

@schamspeare @petergleick "Money Now; Fuck Tomorrow" is oddly poetic.

schamspeare Mar 9

@djsf @petergleick it’s poetry the way the NYSE is ballet.

DJ Sexy Fresh Mar 9

@schamspeare @petergleick I wanna make an EP with three songs:

1. YOLO Empire
2. Money Now
3. Fuck Tomorrow

I will finish it some time before the sun consumes the earth.

the esoteric programmer Mar 9

@petergleick will the world actually do it though? remains to be seen, but my guess is...largely nope

Darwin Woodka Mar 9

BUILD TRANSIT AND TRAINS AND BIKE ROUTES

DeterioratedStucco Mar 9

@petergleick
Stop subsidising the petroleum miners!

@petergleick and don't forget, we should also #EatTheRich.

Mark ⛵️🏳️‍🌈Mar 9

@petergleick you’d hope this was the case, but here in the UK, the majority of politicians are complaining that we wouldn’t be in this mess if we just had more UK oil production - talk about not understanding how energy markets work or how long it takes to bring a new offshore oil field on line 🤦🏻‍♂️ I despair at politics and a large proportion of the human race…

Ponygirl Mar 10

@petergleick I'm glad I chose to not have kids. Humans are trash.

CassandraVert Mar 12

He's inadvertently alerted the world to a few things just by trying to promote their opposite.
At least if everything that he touches dies, then maybe some things he tries to kill will burst out with new life.

Jones Murphy Mar 22

@petergleick this is very wrong in a critical way. No amount of pain will wake up the racist PoS's of the Western right from their global warming denial & accelerationism. But yes, the overwhelming majority of humans ALREADY knew we must get off fossil fuels. We didn't need this genocidal war for that.