Isn’t it great when political leaders get together in secret to determine our future? Sure, who doesn’t love that? And what could ever go wrong??
And yet…they keep doing it. This time the G7 is talking about energy – first and foremost, coal – and how you should get yours. Is their plan a good one? Let’s take a look.
Here are Five Fast Facts on coal’s future as an energy source:
- 🤡 Cast Of Characters - The Group of Seven (G7) is a political and economic forum with representatives from the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". These are the major economies of the world, and all share general values of “pluralism, liberal democracy, and representative government.” In short: rich democracies.
- 🏭 You’re Fired! - The big target this year is coal. Most of the G7 members committed to phase out coal use completely for generating electricity by 2030, with the US and Germany “taking steps” toward that goal. Japan is the only country with no target because they are heavily dependent on coal. For Japan, the deadline is extended as long as their progress doesn’t raise global temperatures more than 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrialization. Hm, we didn’t realize there were that many digital atmospheric thermometers back in the early 1800s. Cool.
- ⚡ All Charged Up - Another goal is to boost development and investment in battery capacity and power grids. Now that’s actually not a bad idea…but no price tag was mentioned. It’ll probably be free.
- 🤦 Demonstrating Absurdity - While the G7 members met to determine our energy future, protestors were outside chanting and lighting pictures of G7 leaders on fire. No, they weren’t protesting the G7’s actions…they were protesting how the G7 was not doing enough. It’s like they’re trying not to be taken seriously.
- 🤔 Nukes Up - Another topic of interest and promotion was nuclear energy. This, along with biofuels, was urged for use in greater frequency for both power generation and transportation. Nuclear power is the one actually viable form of energy that doesn’t involve fossil fuels, so this is just more proof that even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.
🔥Bottom line: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we applaud the preservation of the planet! But these huge, far-reaching declarations are very, very dangerous, especially when they have concrete deadlines that are not far away (i.e. just a few years). To eliminate coal, one of the most plentiful sources of energy on the planet, and to drastically reduce other fossil fuel usage that quickly will do massive damage to economies, and that means massive damage to folks like us. Remember, those programs are designed to raise costs so high it prevents people from using those sources!
What do you think of the G7’s goals?
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