Amazing snapshot of the current state of affairs in climate tech and politics. I found the Zipline update and Rivian/Redwood partnership particularly inspiring. Now, if only we can get my governor on board the climate tech train (I'm in New York). As a renter, I'm particularly interested in balcony solar. Thanks for all the links, too!
The activists at Third Act New York might enjoy your help on balcony solar. Are you connected with them? There are lots more there and here in Texas. https://thirdact.org/working-groups/find/
Cash 🤑💰 crisis after futile quest for your fossil fuel ⛽🛢️ fix ❓❓‼️👌😲 Who ya gonna 🤙😎 call ❓ ( not 🚫 💸 💵 Bill). Here comes the Calvary, Fartwell International, first 🥇 name in natural 🤢 gas ✌️🤢⛽⛽🛢️ ‼️👌👹
Sir ‼️❓❓👌🤔❤️ Kindly refrain from 8th grade caliber jokes 👌🤣 Bill. Mckibben is an earnest save the earth 🌎🌍 missionary, don't assault his sensibility ✌️😸
Speaking of fake climate leaders, Canadian PM Mark Carney this week announced a Sovereign Wealth Fund like Norway’s. Except instead of funding it with surplus oil and gas revenues, the money will come out of taxpayer pockets—because they just have too much spare change these days—and use it for Projects of National Interest. Translation:It’s a slush fund to help the poor oil and gas companies afford more pipe
lines. Good news:Carney’s book “Values” is out in paperback, so now cheaper to burn, if you don’t mind the CO2 emissions.
Regarding the comments about Governor Hochul and the New York State CLCPA climate law: The law requires NY State to reduce CO2e emissions the rest of the way to a 40% reduction economy wide from 1990 levels. This includes all energy AND industrial processes like cement and steel. The Department of Conservation was tasked with quantifying every business and industry and collecting the data in order for the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency. to administrate the implementation of Carbon fees to force this change in the market. NYSERDA issued a memo to the Governor to warn her that the current language of the law would require a starting price of Carbon this year to be $120/ ton and increase to $180/ ton by 2030. This would be catastrophic to the economy and was stated to result in an additional tax on gasoline and diesel of $2.24! Just to name the most obvious effect. when all of the carbon fees have cascaded up through the economy, food would increase by 30% and the total cost of living for an average family would increase by over $9,000/ year.
This should be obvious to even the most ardent climate activist that the CLCPA law as written is infeasible and must be modified. The Carbon fee in California is $30/ ton.
I would hope that Bill McKibben will now be inspired to research the facts.
Meanwhile here in Australia there has been massive public support to increase taxation of LNG exports given increased super profits of gas companies ,however the government has refused to act. The excise on the sale of beer ($2.1bn) exceeds that of the tax on sale of gas exports ($1.1bn). A former Australian Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has stated Australia is virtually giving away its gas for nothing and calls to increase taxation to help fund Australia’ the energy transition and transform the economy through renewable energy. power. What this shows is yet another example of how the powerful interests of the internationally owned fossil fuel industry stall sensible reform.
Awesome post, Bill, as usual. I'm a big fan of yours and the work you are doing with Third Act. As a fellow writer on solar energy, I'm impressed how you manage to research a write on multiple topics in a single post. I can manage to write on only one topic in a single post.
I also found the Zipline update and Rivian/Redwood partnership inspiring and the solar project news from the Amazon!
I have to admit that I am not sure the following link is correct, but if it is and $2.7 Billion of FEMA money went to offshore banks, this is not OK!! At. All.
Thanks for this extensive run-down Bill. I can't say I have seen coverage of the Transitioning away from fossil fuels conference in the Australian media I have lately been reading/listening to, I'll send that link to Global roaming a mid line (I guess) radio podcast here, see if they will feature it.
"The pieces of that broken vase are scattered across the planet, especially in Asia and Africa, where fuel prices are soaring and fertilizer made with fossil fuel is suddenly either unavailable or ruinously expensive."
But isn't that what all of you seem to want? Increasingly unavailable and more expensive fuels...while leaving carbon in the ground? Forgetting that it is needed for all of the transportation required to transition to the all-electric world of renewables and EVs.
We can't have it both ways. Getting rid of CO2 emissions will require massive social and economic damage. And the result? Starvation with none of the CO2 already added to the atmosphere being removed. Are you sure about your view of the future generated by models that don't take economic realities into consideration.
My friends and colleagues working in renewable energy are doing just fine, thanks. Our phones are ringing off the hook.
The only economic damage I can see is coming from the people trying to keep obsolete fossil fuel technology alive using any dirty means at their disposal.
Of course you are all doing fine. Gasolines and renewable biofuels are still widely available and relatively cheap. They are needed in the vehicles used to deliver and install all of your renewables. Wait until we are told with certainty? Demanded by UN politicians? that fossil fuels must go...ASAP. They have already proclaimed that the oil industry is responsible for "global warming"....forgetting that ALL of us have been buying their products to improve our lifestyles and standards of living. Climate hypocrites with dirty hands maybe?
The UN will NOT ban fossil fuels. They don't have that much power. Even Biden didn't have that much power. Just like Trump doesn't have the power to ban solar and wind.
I improved my standard of living when I got my electric car. It's a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt.
I didn't say "ban". But the UN has said many times that fossil fuels must go. So have many protestors. Both forgetting what oil has done for the lives of eight billion people. Biden emptied the US strategic oil reserves adding more CO2 immediately. And for the COP meeting in Belem, they built a four lane highway through the Amazon rainforest so all the hypocrite attendees could get there. Your EV was built and delivered using fossil fuels. So are your groceries.
I agree that the transition will cause pain. But with fossil fuels, we still have starvation. 20% of the world's kids have their growth stunted from malnutrition. In his bestseller, Here Comes the Sun, Bill said fossil fuels got us the relative prosperity we enjoy now. If you want, I can look up the page number of that.
Will you relax and let this transition happen? It's happening and fighting it will just wear you out. Instead you can focus on doing the right thing. What that is differs for all of us. For me, it's one thing, for you, another. Please follow your moral compass. I found mine under my bed.
In his little book, Out of Control, Zbigniew Brezinski, said that our world is more contingent than it used to be. It's more crowded, more intimate and less certain. It's out of control, he said. To make peace with that, we must, he said, give up the dogmatic certainties of the old era.
Brzezinski's closing paragraph "The global crisis of the spirit has to be overcome if humanity is to assert command over its destiny. The point of departure for such self-assertion must be awareness that social life is both objectively and subjectively too complex to be periodically redesigned according to utopian blueprints. The dogmatic certainties of the modern age must yield to the recognition of the inherent uncertainty of the human condition. In a world of fanatical certitudes, morality could be seen as redundant; but in a world of contingency, moral imperatives become the central, and even the only, source of reassurance. Recognition both of the complexity and the contingency of the human condition thus underlines the *political* need for shared moral consensus in the increasingly congested and intimate world of the twenty-first century. (Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control, 1992, p 231)
"I agree that the transition will cause pain. But with fossil fuels, we still have starvation. 20% of the world's kids have their growth stunted from malnutrition."
Nan...Imagine the pain and starvation without fossil fuels for transportation. Are you aware that NASA satellites are showing that our added CO2 is turning the planet greener? that's a positive for agriculture, especially in the poorer nations. And during this 50% increase in atmospheric CO2 the global average temperature has risen very little...about one degree C. That's hardly much support for an existential climate emergency...one supposedly going out of control.
Hey Bill, I'm curious why you titled this A Hinge Moment on Planet Earth. The politics you're describing are just more of the same backslide. Do you see anything positive in the tea leaves?
Maybe Santa Marta is likely to produce real results, as opposed to COP? The countries that have to take renewables seriously immediately are now making serious changes. This is super positive to me.
I reread Bill's piece and he never said what causes the hinge moment. I'd say 3 events contribute to it. The mess in Hormuz has tipped people toward renewables. Santa Marta meetings every year will help too. But the big dog is that fossil electricity generation has peaked says Ember. "fossil power’s global decline has begun. Rapid solar and wind scaling is actively displacing thermal generation. " https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-oecd-to-emerging-markets-fossil-powers-global-decline-has-begun/
Gus in his fix the news issue summarized it as "Fossil power in permanent retreat as OECD nations move beyond their peaks. OECD electricity systems have crossed a structural turning point, with fossil generation down 19% since 2007 and emissions down 28%. Wind and solar growth have fully met rising demand, pushing the share of fossil fuels in their electricity systems from 63% to 48%. In 2025, every OECD country operated below peak fossil output for the first time, signalling a durable system-wide transition." https://fixthenews.com/p/336-awe-malaria-vaccines-oxyrhynchus
Here in Texas what will move the hard core fossil devotees is declining sales.
One of the Third Act Houston leaders reads your substack when she wakes up in the middle of the night. She just told me so. I'm pleased because she's only been learning about our climate for a few years. She and I agree she has plenty to learn.
Bill, my skills are much more technical that literature. I wrote a poem is 1983 and it is about impacts from fossil fuel burning. However while no poems since, then last month I wrote another , more appliable to recent events. I thought who could make use of this, and you were first come to mind. Are you able to connect with me?
I have a problem, had it on my laptop Guess mode and often lose it if my battery runs down, which it did. However that happened I photographed the verses , took several photos and need to reassemble it somehow, a bit tedious , I guess into an email? Wasn't sure if there was interest........and you are way south in Texas?
You do have poetry in you but your poem is too long. A teammate told me "Less is more". I didn't like him saying it, but it's true. It's true that I do run on. It's true that brevity is the soul of wit.
Amazing snapshot of the current state of affairs in climate tech and politics. I found the Zipline update and Rivian/Redwood partnership particularly inspiring. Now, if only we can get my governor on board the climate tech train (I'm in New York). As a renter, I'm particularly interested in balcony solar. Thanks for all the links, too!
The activists at Third Act New York might enjoy your help on balcony solar. Are you connected with them? There are lots more there and here in Texas. https://thirdact.org/working-groups/find/
A belated thanks for that lead!
Cash 🤑💰 crisis after futile quest for your fossil fuel ⛽🛢️ fix ❓❓‼️👌😲 Who ya gonna 🤙😎 call ❓ ( not 🚫 💸 💵 Bill). Here comes the Calvary, Fartwell International, first 🥇 name in natural 🤢 gas ✌️🤢⛽⛽🛢️ ‼️👌👹
Here comes the SUN 🌞🌻 it's all right ‼️✌️😎
Sir ‼️❓❓👌🤔❤️ Kindly refrain from 8th grade caliber jokes 👌🤣 Bill. Mckibben is an earnest save the earth 🌎🌍 missionary, don't assault his sensibility ✌️😸
Thank you for the important update on what is happening.
I agree with Bill that Santa Marta is a hinge moment. I reposted the story to my tribe. Gus at Fix the News featured it and I used his link to https://www.carbonbrief.org/santa-marta-key-outcomes-from-first-summit-on-transitioning-away-from-fossil-fuels/
The SM process is important. Here are some suggestions to make it better https://jacksantabarbara515437.substack.com/p/the-santa-marta-fossil-fuel-transition?isFreemail=false&post_id=196474551&publication_id=4871083&r=2o3zu&triedRedirect=true
Speaking of fake climate leaders, Canadian PM Mark Carney this week announced a Sovereign Wealth Fund like Norway’s. Except instead of funding it with surplus oil and gas revenues, the money will come out of taxpayer pockets—because they just have too much spare change these days—and use it for Projects of National Interest. Translation:It’s a slush fund to help the poor oil and gas companies afford more pipe
lines. Good news:Carney’s book “Values” is out in paperback, so now cheaper to burn, if you don’t mind the CO2 emissions.
Regarding the comments about Governor Hochul and the New York State CLCPA climate law: The law requires NY State to reduce CO2e emissions the rest of the way to a 40% reduction economy wide from 1990 levels. This includes all energy AND industrial processes like cement and steel. The Department of Conservation was tasked with quantifying every business and industry and collecting the data in order for the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency. to administrate the implementation of Carbon fees to force this change in the market. NYSERDA issued a memo to the Governor to warn her that the current language of the law would require a starting price of Carbon this year to be $120/ ton and increase to $180/ ton by 2030. This would be catastrophic to the economy and was stated to result in an additional tax on gasoline and diesel of $2.24! Just to name the most obvious effect. when all of the carbon fees have cascaded up through the economy, food would increase by 30% and the total cost of living for an average family would increase by over $9,000/ year.
This should be obvious to even the most ardent climate activist that the CLCPA law as written is infeasible and must be modified. The Carbon fee in California is $30/ ton.
I would hope that Bill McKibben will now be inspired to research the facts.
Meanwhile here in Australia there has been massive public support to increase taxation of LNG exports given increased super profits of gas companies ,however the government has refused to act. The excise on the sale of beer ($2.1bn) exceeds that of the tax on sale of gas exports ($1.1bn). A former Australian Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has stated Australia is virtually giving away its gas for nothing and calls to increase taxation to help fund Australia’ the energy transition and transform the economy through renewable energy. power. What this shows is yet another example of how the powerful interests of the internationally owned fossil fuel industry stall sensible reform.
Awesome post, Bill, as usual. I'm a big fan of yours and the work you are doing with Third Act. As a fellow writer on solar energy, I'm impressed how you manage to research a write on multiple topics in a single post. I can manage to write on only one topic in a single post.
I also found the Zipline update and Rivian/Redwood partnership inspiring and the solar project news from the Amazon!
I have to admit that I am not sure the following link is correct, but if it is and $2.7 Billion of FEMA money went to offshore banks, this is not OK!! At. All.
https://youtu.be/Dr_vsMwd2qU?si=MgdgnyIQ-WrbwCsC
You are the primary voice I hear about regarding solar, wind, and batteries. Thank you amplifying them.
Please repeat the solar and other good news stories to your group.
Thanks for this extensive run-down Bill. I can't say I have seen coverage of the Transitioning away from fossil fuels conference in the Australian media I have lately been reading/listening to, I'll send that link to Global roaming a mid line (I guess) radio podcast here, see if they will feature it.
Australia was there (I was too). They were decent. Not like Canada, total sellouts.
"The pieces of that broken vase are scattered across the planet, especially in Asia and Africa, where fuel prices are soaring and fertilizer made with fossil fuel is suddenly either unavailable or ruinously expensive."
But isn't that what all of you seem to want? Increasingly unavailable and more expensive fuels...while leaving carbon in the ground? Forgetting that it is needed for all of the transportation required to transition to the all-electric world of renewables and EVs.
We can't have it both ways. Getting rid of CO2 emissions will require massive social and economic damage. And the result? Starvation with none of the CO2 already added to the atmosphere being removed. Are you sure about your view of the future generated by models that don't take economic realities into consideration.
My friends and colleagues working in renewable energy are doing just fine, thanks. Our phones are ringing off the hook.
The only economic damage I can see is coming from the people trying to keep obsolete fossil fuel technology alive using any dirty means at their disposal.
Of course you are all doing fine. Gasolines and renewable biofuels are still widely available and relatively cheap. They are needed in the vehicles used to deliver and install all of your renewables. Wait until we are told with certainty? Demanded by UN politicians? that fossil fuels must go...ASAP. They have already proclaimed that the oil industry is responsible for "global warming"....forgetting that ALL of us have been buying their products to improve our lifestyles and standards of living. Climate hypocrites with dirty hands maybe?
The UN will NOT ban fossil fuels. They don't have that much power. Even Biden didn't have that much power. Just like Trump doesn't have the power to ban solar and wind.
I improved my standard of living when I got my electric car. It's a 2019 Chevrolet Bolt.
I didn't say "ban". But the UN has said many times that fossil fuels must go. So have many protestors. Both forgetting what oil has done for the lives of eight billion people. Biden emptied the US strategic oil reserves adding more CO2 immediately. And for the COP meeting in Belem, they built a four lane highway through the Amazon rainforest so all the hypocrite attendees could get there. Your EV was built and delivered using fossil fuels. So are your groceries.
I agree that the transition will cause pain. But with fossil fuels, we still have starvation. 20% of the world's kids have their growth stunted from malnutrition. In his bestseller, Here Comes the Sun, Bill said fossil fuels got us the relative prosperity we enjoy now. If you want, I can look up the page number of that.
Will you relax and let this transition happen? It's happening and fighting it will just wear you out. Instead you can focus on doing the right thing. What that is differs for all of us. For me, it's one thing, for you, another. Please follow your moral compass. I found mine under my bed.
In his little book, Out of Control, Zbigniew Brezinski, said that our world is more contingent than it used to be. It's more crowded, more intimate and less certain. It's out of control, he said. To make peace with that, we must, he said, give up the dogmatic certainties of the old era.
Brzezinski's closing paragraph "The global crisis of the spirit has to be overcome if humanity is to assert command over its destiny. The point of departure for such self-assertion must be awareness that social life is both objectively and subjectively too complex to be periodically redesigned according to utopian blueprints. The dogmatic certainties of the modern age must yield to the recognition of the inherent uncertainty of the human condition. In a world of fanatical certitudes, morality could be seen as redundant; but in a world of contingency, moral imperatives become the central, and even the only, source of reassurance. Recognition both of the complexity and the contingency of the human condition thus underlines the *political* need for shared moral consensus in the increasingly congested and intimate world of the twenty-first century. (Zbigniew Brzezinski, Out of Control, 1992, p 231)
"I agree that the transition will cause pain. But with fossil fuels, we still have starvation. 20% of the world's kids have their growth stunted from malnutrition."
Nan...Imagine the pain and starvation without fossil fuels for transportation. Are you aware that NASA satellites are showing that our added CO2 is turning the planet greener? that's a positive for agriculture, especially in the poorer nations. And during this 50% increase in atmospheric CO2 the global average temperature has risen very little...about one degree C. That's hardly much support for an existential climate emergency...one supposedly going out of control.
Hey Bill, I'm curious why you titled this A Hinge Moment on Planet Earth. The politics you're describing are just more of the same backslide. Do you see anything positive in the tea leaves?
Maybe Santa Marta is likely to produce real results, as opposed to COP? The countries that have to take renewables seriously immediately are now making serious changes. This is super positive to me.
I reread Bill's piece and he never said what causes the hinge moment. I'd say 3 events contribute to it. The mess in Hormuz has tipped people toward renewables. Santa Marta meetings every year will help too. But the big dog is that fossil electricity generation has peaked says Ember. "fossil power’s global decline has begun. Rapid solar and wind scaling is actively displacing thermal generation. " https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/from-oecd-to-emerging-markets-fossil-powers-global-decline-has-begun/
Gus in his fix the news issue summarized it as "Fossil power in permanent retreat as OECD nations move beyond their peaks. OECD electricity systems have crossed a structural turning point, with fossil generation down 19% since 2007 and emissions down 28%. Wind and solar growth have fully met rising demand, pushing the share of fossil fuels in their electricity systems from 63% to 48%. In 2025, every OECD country operated below peak fossil output for the first time, signalling a durable system-wide transition." https://fixthenews.com/p/336-awe-malaria-vaccines-oxyrhynchus
Here in Texas what will move the hard core fossil devotees is declining sales.
There's a lot left to make this "hinge" work. Suggestions here: https://jacksantabarbara515437.substack.com/p/the-santa-marta-fossil-fuel-transition?isFreemail=false&post_id=196474551&publication_id=4871083&r=2o3zu&triedRedirect=true
One of the Third Act Houston leaders reads your substack when she wakes up in the middle of the night. She just told me so. I'm pleased because she's only been learning about our climate for a few years. She and I agree she has plenty to learn.
More excellent news round-up and analysis.
The geopolitics remind me of Nils Gilman's argument that we're entering a global conflict between petro- and electostates.
Bill, my skills are much more technical that literature. I wrote a poem is 1983 and it is about impacts from fossil fuel burning. However while no poems since, then last month I wrote another , more appliable to recent events. I thought who could make use of this, and you were first come to mind. Are you able to connect with me?
Why didn't you post your poem here? Bill's associate says we need lots of artists. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/jan/12/rebecca-solnit-climate-crisis-popular-imagination-why-we-need-new-stories We need your help.
I have a problem, had it on my laptop Guess mode and often lose it if my battery runs down, which it did. However that happened I photographed the verses , took several photos and need to reassemble it somehow, a bit tedious , I guess into an email? Wasn't sure if there was interest........and you are way south in Texas?
It took 7 photos to get it, the English version(which has a few Spanish phrases, and also a version all in Spanish , 7 more photos
The title "The Great Inversion: A 250 year Reckoning"
The first verse:
The solstice sun reflects a mirror's face
A June child born in December's place
Six months from the manger the calendar flips
A "Messiah" arrives with a lie on his lips
He isn't the "Christmas Child" of the silent night
But the Nino de la Canicula - the Bringer of Blight
While the Pacific boils in a Super Nino's heat
The "Summer Child walks on a golden street.
Nino de la Canicula :Refers to the "Dog Days of summer. Historical, it implied an oppressive , cursed heat, now reaching a tipping point of arrest.
verse 2:
In '76, the air was clean and deep
While carbon seeds of industry lay asleep
At two-eighty parts, the Republic was born
Now four-hundred-thirty leaves the climate torn
The 350 target is a ghost in the sky
As the Super Nino watches the old world die
From the birth of the flag to the soot of the coal
The 250 - year furnace has taken its toll
Verse 3
The AMOC heart stutters, a current gone cold
As the story of Empire is finally told
EI Paro del Corazon - the Atlantic's slow death
While the Anticristo draws a deep, fiery breath
He claims Nueva Conquista, a land to reclaim
With a cross in one hand and a world in flame
Between Liamas Iran and the ice of the deep
The Nono del Juicio wakes while we sleep
There are 4 more verses
Your thoughts?
You do have poetry in you but your poem is too long. A teammate told me "Less is more". I didn't like him saying it, but it's true. It's true that I do run on. It's true that brevity is the soul of wit.