We can’t end the fossil fuel age without bold government policy  and the active cooperation of business. But “regular people” are anything but powerless.

As a consumer, you can make a difference by reducing  your carbon footprint. As a citizen, you can use your voice inside and outside the voting booth. For instance, citizens are pressing cities, universities, and pension funds to publicly declare themselves fossil-free and divest from the industry.

The number of energy cooperatives founded by people who’ve decided to take matters into their own hands is rising fast. And worldwide citizen mobilization around the Paris climate conference in December 2015 helped get the ambitious target of 1.5°C into the agreement. 

https://newrepublic.com/article/139132/towards-working-class-environmentalism

Citizens and activist groups have begun taking governments to court to force them to take action against climate change. After all, contributing to global warming – or doing too little to limit it – means contributing to the violation of human rights, like the right to food and a safe environment.

The most successful case so far has been the environmental organization Urgenda’s lawsuit against the Dutch state in 2015. The judge ruled the government was doing too little to prevent hazardous climate change and had to step up its efforts to cut emissions to protect citizens.

In the U.S., similar cases have been filed against various states on behalf of children, and others are under way in Belgium and elsewhere. The common refrain in these complaints: it’s not fair to wreck the climate in a few generations for all those to come.

https://thecorrespondent.com/5462/climate-change-is-unjust-can-the-courts-do-something-about-that/601961558-50c6bc58

More and more major investors, pension funds, and private and central banks are realizing that investments in the fossil fuel industry  could become worthless later this century. Little by little, they’re exerting their influence to steer companies toward sustainability or turning their backs on them altogether.

Owners of coal-fired power plants and builders of mines have taken a hit on the stock market in recent years, partly due to competition from solar and wind energy. And the oil and gas industry is having a hard time too, in part because of low oil prices.

Demand for fossil fuels won’t disappear overnight, but if the energy transition accelerates, some analysts say demand for oil and gas will peak a lot sooner than the industry expects, leading to large-scale capital destruction.

https://thecorrespondent.com/5433/this-financial-analyst-is-certain-fossil-fuel-companies-are-past-their-prime/598765497-c93ad272

Can you tell I like photographing these giant creatures????

(Hm, not sure that “epic” is the right adjective – more likely to align with wishful thinking, but then again, enthusiasm helps the good fight…)

In December 2015 in Paris, all the world’s countries agreed to bring greenhouse gas emissions down  to net zero in the second half of this century. The end of the fossil fuel era is in sight: solar and wind power is becoming competitive with fossil fuel energy in more and more countries.

Higher temperatures are already triggering more droughts and storms, causing failed harvests, and driving people from their homes. These problems will continue to worsen and affect more people as the mercury keeps rising.

Since 10% of the world’s population lives in low-lying coastal areas and three-quarters of major cities are by the sea, rising sea levels are one of the greatest hazards of climate change.

Before the last ice age, about 120,000 years ago, the temperature on earth was 1° Celsius higher than it is today, and sea levels were 5 to 9 meters higher. The rising waters to come will threaten cities such as London, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, New York, and Amsterdam.

Miami

The numerous other effects to look forward to include a shortage of fresh water, searing heat, and increasingly destructive forest fires. Warming has far-reaching effects on biodiversity and marine life, too.

Amsterdam

(The images are from my show some years back at Blackfish Gallery.  Free Fall focussed on airplane disasters in the context of human political or religious hate and/ or technological hubris.)

And here is an alternative voice: http://www.wsj.com/articles/my-unhappy-life-as-a-climate-heretic-1480723518