This week's episode of EnvironMental is a short wrap up of the conversation we have been having around the transition to renewable energy.

This week we're talking with Tom Vocke (THE Tom!) with Lightyear!  He's an electrical engineer who has been part of the transition to solar energy, especially in cars, since 2011.  We spent time asking about the reality of transitioning to renewable energy - he's optimistic about what is possible!  He told us about the limits of solar energy, what a solar cell is made out of, and why solar is getting cheaper!  Right now, the renewable energy industry has its eyes set on increasing efficiency in solar panels and figuring out how to store electricity more effectively, but the reality is there is room for innovation and systemic change everywhere in the energy industry.  We need to put solar panels on everything, and we need to upgrade to smart meters, and we need to ensure that our current power grids can handle the transition.  There's a lot to be done, and a lot of incredible minds, like Tom's, working together to make it possible!  #solarenergy #renewabletransition #renewableenergy #greenenergy #environmentalpodcast

This week we read the Carbon Boycott by Samuel Avery

All of these steps help us to move towards less reliance on fossil fuel energy and will make the transition to renewables more smooth! It can be done!!

This week we're leaving the topic of dirty energy and fossil fuels behind to start talking about the necessary transition to renewables.

We split up and independently answered some questions, and then shared it with each other on this week's podcast.

Aub went first and talked about where we are in the transition and what kind of plan we have in place. There's a lot of information out there about this and to make the long story short - we're gaining in renewables for electricity, but buildings (heating and emissions) and travel are still big issues for the transition.

While there are a lot of people focused on individual solutions, there's no overarching plan, and no one taking charge of this transition. There are a lot of pieces missing in the political and environmental priorities, like how we need to invest in improving the efficiency of the current infrastructure while we find new, renewable sources of energy. Or how subsidies for fossil fuels are still double (or more) the subsidies given to renewable sources.

Courtney picked it up from there, sharing information about energy democracy and a few companies that are dedicated to putting people of color in leadership positions.

She said, "We can't expect to have clean energy solutions without having clean election solutions." And this beautifully sums up the discussion. She shared information about "energy cooperatives" and how this feels like something new, but there are actually quite a few already! The heads of the power companies in these regions bank on the fact that people never even know that they have decision power in their community's energy source.

Next week we're going to continue this conversation by reading a book called The Carbon Boycott; A Path to Freedom from Fossil Fuels By Samuel Avery.

We have moved away from using Amazon to find our audiobook sources because Mr. Bezos, respectfully, doesn't need our dollars (or yours) so here's our link to Libro, a site that makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks through your local bookstore: https://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm282860

Here are our sources for this episode:

Transition updates, plans, and efficiency

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/6/18/18681591/renewable-energy-china-solar-pv-jobs

https://www.energy.gov/eere/analysis/energy-efficiency-vs-energy-intensity

https://www.iea.org/reports/the-critical-role-of-buildings

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-05-20/nobody-takes-the-renewable-energy-transition-seriously/

Microgrids

https://microgridknowledge.com/microgrid-defined/

greentechmedia.com/articles/read/lessons-learned-from-californias-pioneering-microgrids

Energy Democracy

The webinar Courtney mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foh7HMthX1w

PDF https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/sonst_publikationen/Energy-democracy-in-Europe.pdf

Asian Pacific organization working on BIPOC leadership training

http://apen4ej.org/

This week on EnvironMental, we decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

After last week's run in with propaganda left us with a ton of questions, we decided to split up and research independently, then come back together and share what we learned.

Courtney looked into the injustices, and potential issues with mining for renewable energy and found that we might just be swapping one issue for another one.

And she updated us on the currently accepted research on climate change - which, in essence, is that shit is about to go DOWN.

We seem to always come back to the topic of injustice from the fossil fuel industry, and to be honest - it was never (we literally mean never) an ethical industry. Human rights violation and ecological destruction started with John D. Rockefeller and never stopped... but it did move (largely) off of US soil.

Where we find that the fossil fuel industry has been sowing the seeds of instability in other countries for decades. And why? For profit.

Because, as Aub found out when she followed the money, we (tax payers) spend upwards of $1 trillion globally in tax breaks and subsidies for the industry (that number does NOT include the various negative externalities) - more than half of which goes towards the projects in "developing nations" to create infrastructure there.

And the industry does this under the guise of "progress" and "unconventional oil and gas development" because, according to Alex Epstein and the other big oil lobbyists, there's a ton of fossil fuels left - we just don't have the tech to get it.

But that's not the whole truth.

Aub also looked into what there IS left and found out that it is indeed very quickly running out. - Like less than a lifetime running out - and what we're pumping up from new tech, like the fracking method, isn't as viable. It needs more refinement.

In general. The relationship we, as a global society, have with the fossil fuel industry, is a toxic, abusive one that we are in the beginning stages of figuring out how to leave.

Based on past behavior, and where the rare elements are for the renewable sources we're trying to create, we don't think this transition will go down without a fight.

See our Youtube video here for a link of our sources: https://youtu.be/6t_p1G5WeJ8

We read The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein this week because we're not here just to tow the democratic- climate crisis - anti-fossil fuels line, we're here to investigate the fossil fuel industry and climate change issue deeper.

We don't pay the true cost of the energy we rely on.

This week we jump into the topic that we will spend the next two months talking about - Energy.

We're starting with fossil fuels because the industry has its sticky fingers in every pie.

To jump into the topic, we started this with a quote from the epilogue of The Crisis, a new podcast from Vice News, which perfectly describes the issue we want to talk about this month.

"...From our reporting, it's clear that fossil fuels companies can have way more influence over our lives than we might realize. From the highest offices of govt to the smallest towns, they shape the world we live in, the conditions of where we live, the politics of where we live, and the environment around us.

But it takes time and money and effort to bring these realities to light because systems of power are built to keep replicating themselves to keep power concentrated in the hands of a few people, to keep things running exactly as they are."

While we need to break free from fossil fuels, like leaving an unhealthy relationship, we don't want to vilify fossil fuels as a energy source - it has vastly improved the standard of living around the world and has lead to growing technologies that we rely on every day.

However, the fossil fuel industry is responsible for terrible, heinous acts - against the environment and human rights alike. They regularly create sovereign agencies within countries that have corrupt or lazy governments, lax tax laws, and abundant natural resources. They use money to wield political power and exploit the people they take into their service.

 - Is it possible to separate the energy from the industry?

 - What are the redeeming qualities, if any, in the fossil fuels industry?

 - Is there a fossil fuel company that we can trust? Is there a "fair trade" fossil fuel company?

 - What is the trade off and the true cost in not sourcing energy from exploited countries?

 - How do we keep the people around the world that work in this industry, safe?

 - What does the infrastructure of green energy look like? How can we safely transition there?

 - Is it possible to shift the job force to clean energy? What would that look like?

This week on EnvironMental, we talk about our main takeaways from the past month that we’ve spent diving into sustainable sourcing.

This week on EnvironMental, we're talking about what we learned from reading the first hand accounts of building Fair Trade value supply chains around the world!