RE:RE:Facts about US and Canadian oil & gas productionNote to self yasch invests in oil and preaches Tsla lol
Yasch22 wrote: So, we're now dealing with a number of interlocking and highly contested issues. On the one hand we have the issue of increased fossil fuel production over the past 17 years, plus the issue of why and how that increase took place. We also have the issue of which Presidents and Prime Ministers should get credit for this growth, and then of course we have the issue of whether or not they should -- instead -- be blamed for the growth.
Most of the growth happened because of developments in the private sphere, not because of anything our political leaders said or did. Specifically, the fossil fuel CEOs figured out how to do fracking, and that kicked off the shale gas and shale oil boom.
Also worth noting is that awareness about the environmental consequences of fossil fuels has been growing steadily since 15 years ago. In the past 5 years, especially, we've become hyper-aware of the problems caused by global warming and climate change.
Pretty well every country in the world has been accelerating the shift to renewable energy, to energy storage, and to the electrification of transportation. If Putin had invaded Ukraine 5 years ago, he might have been able to avoid economic sanctions, because Europe -- and especially its strongest economy in Germany -- depended that much more on Russian oil and gas.
Anyway, every politician in the West, especially if they represent countries with big oil and gas production, has had to do a conscientious balancing act. On the one hand, they need to maintain as much fossil fuel independence as possible, and to make sure that their own native oil and gas producers get their fair share of the pie for the next 10 to 20 years. (Note: if we shut down our pipelines, that just means that Russia and the Middle East get bigger slices of the pie.) On the other hand, we NEED to shift as quickly as we can to renewables.
Just my opinion, but I think Canada has done a tremendous job for the past 7 years of balancing environmental concerns alongside the concerns of the fossil fuel industry. An almost incredible sign of the times: indigenous groups in Alberta and B.C. are actually vying to become the owners of the TransMountain and other pipelines, even though they must know they only have another 15 to 20 years of profitability.
In the USA, Trump blew his moment to shine. On the one hand, he didn't actually do much for coal, oil and gas, and on the environmental side he put the USA back by 4 years.