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Green-Tinted Glasses
Absent from most public and policy conversations is any acknowledgement of the possibility that renewable energy cannot power a high-consumption civilization. This series will explore mounting evidence that a major downshift in consumption is looming — and explore the implications of this energy realism for human progress and flourishing. A Dig curated by Christopher Ketcham
The Battle Against Lithium Mining at Thacker Pass
Humans Make the Earth Hot and Heavy
“Our Cognitive Capacities Have Become Obsolete in the World in Which We Live”
Iranian Filmmaker Goes Where the Mainstream Enviro Left Doesn’t Dare
5 Steps No One is Taking Toward Green Growth
Canada’s Nicer, More Radical Bill McKibben
Development ‘Threatens Most Indigenous Lands Globally’
Neocolonialism: Pillaging the Earth for the ‘Climate’
Native Americans take a stand against “green” extractivism in the Nevada desert.
On a stormy day in June, a wildlife biologist named Katie Fite stopped to visit the Indigenous Women’s Camp in a remote valley called Thacker Pass, in northwestern Nevada. She had traveled several hours from her home in Idaho and was hoping to meet the leaders of the camp. These were known as the Grandmas. Mostly Paiute and Shoshone women in their 70s and 80s, the Grandmas held vigil at the sacred fire in the central teepee and cooked for the warriors who maintained the camp and guarded it at night. Their goal, shared by the dozen men, women and children who had gathered at their side, was to halt construction of a massive open-pit mine.
Dig deeper Apr 4, 2023The Green Growth Delusion
Advocates of “Green Growth” promise a painless transition to a post-carbon future. But what if the limits of renewable energy require sacrificing consumption as a way of life?
A tree is surrounded by solar panels in Los Arcos, Spain, on Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos, File)
In the annals of industrial civilization, the Green New Deal counts as one of the more ambitious projects. Its scale is vast, promising to reform every aspect of how we power our machines, light our homes and fuel our cars. At this late hour of ecological and climate crisis, the Green New Deal is also an act of desperation. Our energy-ravenous culture cannot continue producing carbon without destroying the systems that are the basis of any advanced civilization, not to mention life itself. Something must be done, and quickly, to moderate the pressure on the atmospheric sink while powering the economic machine.
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