Opinion: It’s Time to Start Ending All Fossil Fuel Production

Love, Justice, and Climate Change

Over the years I have written many posts about the climate crisis and about climate justice — good news, bad news, goals, new technologies, activists’ successes, and the depth of the crisis. Today I want to state explicitly what must happen if we are to keep much of our planet inhabitable for human beings and other species. We must end the extraction of oil, gas, and coal everywhere in the world.

Fossil Fuel Production has Continued to Rise
Despite all of humanity’s successes in developing and deploying renewable energy, in conserving energy and increasing energy efficiency, and in making a majority of the global population aware that global warming is real and a major problem, fossil fuel production has continued to rise (as the chart above illustrates). While there are many aspects to the climate crisis, the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming. It is emissions from the burning of fossil fuels that are causing deadly heat waves around the world, catastrophic storms and flooding, agriculture-destroying droughts, and rising sea levels.

We Must End the Fossil Fuel Industry
If we are to resolve the climate crisis, we must remove from the face of the earth, one of the biggest, most profitable industries of all time–the fossil fuel industry. This is no small task, of course. But I think we must be honest with ourselves that this is what must happen. Nothing else will suffice. As big a task as this is, I believe we can succeed. I believe that in part because it is in everyone’s best interest.

We can argue over whether this must happen in 10, 15, or 25 years. We can disagree about whether some small amount of ongoing emissions can be dealt with by carbon capture. We can argue about the most effective strategies. We cannot avoid, however, the fact that fossil fuel extraction essentially must end. Most importantly, we cannot delay. Every year of continued fossil fuel extraction makes the climate crisis worse.

How is it possible that it is still legal to extract, sell, and burn something that is causing a worsening global crisis of death, destruction, and hunger, and damages in the trillions of dollars?

Who is Radical or Extreme?
You may think my position is radical, and perhaps it is. The real extremists, however, are those who think it’s okay to keep making the climate crisis worse by continuing to extract and sell coal, oil and gas. They are the ones putting their profits ahead of basic human rights and the sustainability our planetary home. It’s the fossil fuel industry that has lied to us about what they are doing and its deadly effects. They are the ones that have corrupted our political system with their money and power so that no politician can call for an end to their climate-destroying business.

We cannot expect the fossil fuel industry to come to its senses, do the right thing, and bring their vast wealth generation to an end. While being fully aware of the effects of climate change, they have announced their clear intentions to grow their industry even larger in the coming decades. They must be stopped.

The Market Will Not Save Us
We cannot count on market forces to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Renewable energy has been installed at an amazing rate in recent years, but that has not led to any reduction in fossil fuel production. Even though it’s now cheaper to produce electricity with renewable energy than with fossil fuels, fossil fuels have continued to be more profitable than renewable energy. The market will not save us. We must first use taxation to remove profitability from fossil fuels and then outlaw them entirely.

Both in the U.S. and in the world beyond, our societies will need some time to transition off fossil fuels. We will need to provide a just transition in which workers and communities everywhere experience equity and prosperity as we end our dependence on fossil fuels. There will be much to figure out as we go, but we must begin to reduce fossil fuel production immediately and get the transition fully underway.

The U.S. Is the World’s Largest Producer and Exporter of Oil and Gas
The U.S. has a special role to play in this transition. The U.S. is the world’s largest producer and exporter of both oil and gas–currently exporting more than any other country ever has. Only nine years ago, we exported no oil (it was against the law) and very little gas. This huge rise in exports has been very profitable, with most of the benefits going to big oil companies and the already wealthy, but has been disastrous for the global climate. It has also dramatically slowed the transition to renewable energy in many parts of the world. We are under no obligation to keep enriching the wealthy when we could make a huge difference in climate change by gradually reducing extraction and ending these exports over the next 10 years.

Passing on a Livable World to Future Generations
People all over the world want to pass on a livable world to future generations. This elimination of fossil fuel extraction is one of the essential steps in making that possible. Eliminating fossil fuels will only be possible as we build a big enough movement of people everywhere demanding that our governments make it happen. We can do this. We can each find a way to connect with some part of the climate movement and invite others to join us.

We Want a World That Is Safe, Livable and Sustainable for Everyone
We know that some will oppose us and we can expect significant conflict. However, we will do this for everyone’s benefit. We are opposed to irrational policies. We are opposed to destroying the climate. We are opposed to further enriching the already obscenely wealthy. Our enemies are greed and irrationality, not people. We believe everyone, everywhere matters. We want a world that is safe, livable, and sustainable for everyone.

Russ Vernon-Jones was principal of Fort River School 1990-2008 and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now-Western Massachusetts. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.