By Vijay Jayaraj With mist-shrouded peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and a sun-drenched Caribbean coastline, Colombia’s landscape is as diverse as its people. However, decades of internal conflict and economic uncertainty demonstrated that incredible natural beauty alone are not sufficient for a civilized society. A transformation from more than 50 years of… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj … Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj Scientific advancement and agricultural technology have revolutionized food production, enabling humanity to feed more readily a ballooning population. And working behind these celebrated innovations is an unacknowledged but indispensable contributor to the world’s growing food security: rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The very molecule that has been wrongly branded as a doomsday… Continue Reading
(Photo: Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, England) (The visible emissions from modern coal-fired power plants are water vapor) By Gordon Tomb Has the time come to make coal great again? Maybe. “Coal is cheap and far less profitable to export than to burn domestically. so, let’s burn it here,” says Steve Milloy, a veteran observer… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj The climate movement’s annual showpiece, the United Nation’s Conference of Parties (COP), held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, has been exposed to an unprecedented level of disinterest – even dissent – from developing nations. Leaders of some of the world’s most resource-rich, economically aspiring countries have opted to sit this one out,… Continue Reading
By Gordon J. Fulks At a time when campaigning politicians defy reality with extravagant promises, recent developments suggest reason may be returning to the electric power sector – even as the Biden administration frantically tries to spend billions on so-called ‘renewable energy.’ Much of this drama plays out in my Pacific Northwest, where policymakers favor… Continue Reading
By Ananya Bhatia and Vijay Jayaraj From my residential perch overlooking Ho Chi Minh City, I embrace the tranquillity of daybreak. Quickly, the idyllic morning transforms into a pulsing canvas of vitality as middle-class ambitions surge through the arteries of this burgeoning metropolis – Vietnam’s largest city known to some as Saigon. It is an… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj Modern warming of the climate, contrary to the popular – though waning – narrative, has contributed to the flourishing of human civilization to unprecedented levels. About 10,000 years ago at the end of the last glacial advance, our relatively warm Holocene era began and allowed for the development of agriculture and ever… Continue Reading
12.2.2024
November’s Energy Earthquake: A World Reshaped by Politics, Power, and Pragmatism
By Vijay Jayaraj As the global energy landscape pivots in the shadow of November 2024’s seismic political developments, the world finds itself navigating a complex web of geopolitics, market maneuvers and environmental debates. In recent weeks, we have seen the return to world leadership chief climate skeptic Donald Trump and the conspicuous absences of key… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj When a purported climate crisis dominates much of the discourse of public policy, the trap of attributing every ecological issue to climate change easily ensnares anyone who fails to note the abundant evidence to the contrary. Over the past few decades, we have witnessed remarkable success stories of species being brought back… Continue Reading
By Samuel Furfari On November 12th, the Court of Appeals in The Hague handed down a historic judgment, rejecting climate activists’ demands that Shell drastically reduce its carbon emissions. The decision marks a major turning point in the balance between climate policy and humanity’s basic energy needs, and sets an important precedent for the future… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj A farmer in South Korea’s Gyeongbok Province carefully tends to his potato field, while halfway across the world the engines of a thousand cars idle on an American interstate highway. These seemingly disconnected scenes share a bond through the fertilization effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which has been greening the Earth for decades. Yes,… Continue Reading
By Gregory Wrightstone As the love affair with so-called green energy cools and “net zero” commitments to eliminate “carbon emissions” wane, we see glimmers of acknowledgment for the benefits of carbon dioxide. That’s right: More people are beginning to understand that the gas – widely demonized as a pollutant endangering Earth with excessive heat –… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj Gathering in the Russian city of Kazan and hosted by that country’s “alienated and sanctioned” leader Vladimir Putin, the heads of some of the world’s most powerful nations made clear that the so-called climate emergency was a secondary priority for them. Attendees of the 16th annual BRICS summit represented more than 45%… Continue Reading
By Steve Goreham Another year has passed, and that stubborn Ozone Hole over Antarctica refuses to go away. Data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows that the area of the Ozone Hole remains about the same as it has been over the last 30 years. But will scientists admit that they didn’t… Continue Reading
By Gregory Wrightstone On November 2, Alberta’s ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) approved a resolution stating, in part: “CO2 is a nutrient foundational for all life on Earth…The earth needs more CO2 to support life and to increase plant yields, both of which contribute to the Health and Prosperity [sic] of all Albertans.” A UCP member speaking in favor… Continue Reading
By Gregory Wrightstone To frack or not to frack has been a hot topic in the United States for several years. That discussion has been most intense in the state of Pennsylvania. That is because the Keystone State is home to the Marcellus Shale, the largest natural gas accumulation in the world. According to Bill… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj Fossil fuels are destroying our planet. Big oil is evil. Coal is an addiction. These are hyperbolic statements uttered without basis in the public square as we continue with lifestyles dependent on hydrocarbons and their derivatives. This dissonance exists cognitively in individuals whose choices are inconsistent with their thinking. Another dissonance manifests… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj While much of the Western world clamors about renewable energy and “carbon neutrality”, a different story is unfolding in the East. Asia — led by economic powerhouses like China, India and Japan – is doubling down on fossil fuels, recognizing their irreplaceable role in powering economic growth and improving living standards for… Continue Reading
By Steve Goreham Alternative energy is exploding—literally. Lithium battery fires are breaking out on highways and in factories, home garages and storage rooms. The rise in these fires is caused by government efforts to force the adoption of “green” energy. Lithium batteries have high energy density, making them valuable for phones and portable appliances. But… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj European colonialism that methodically extracted wealth from Africa until the system’s collapse in the last century has been replaced by a climate colonialism that stifles the economic development that the Dark Continent desperately needs. A highly political climate industrial complex enables Western governments and international bodies like the United Nations to exert… Continue Reading
By Tilak Doshi Terrence Keeley is a long-time ESG practitioner who until recently headed the official institutions group in the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock advising sovereign wealth funds, central banks, finance ministries, and public pension funds. He claimed in 2022 that “ESG investing could well be the biggest thing in finance since the Dutch East India… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj The archipelago nation of Indonesia represents just 1% of Earth’s land area, but it has set the stage for global geopolitics surrounding fossil fuels and climate policies. As a part of climate negotiations between G-7 nations, Indonesia was expected to be the first among developing countries to announce early closures of coal… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayarj Before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, the media chorus linked “an historic” storm to climate change and warned of even greater catastrophes in the future. For all the noise, Hurricane Milton was downgraded to a Category 3 storm that was bad enough if not apocalyptic for most. Nonetheless, the media rant… Continue Reading
By Vijay Jayaraj As we gaze at the verdant fields of Saskatchewan or the salmon-rich waters of British Columbia, it’s easy to forget that merely 12,000 years ago much of Canada lay under miles of ice. The Canada we know today—a mosaic of thriving ecosystems and bountiful farmlands—is the product of a remarkable transformation that… Continue Reading