[GWSG] Cheaper than free oil; oil costs; BP scrambles; greasing the transition; Earth Day Live; rewilding dry run underway

[Tilley, Al]

1. The price of oil fell to much lower than the expense of producing or even transporting it. We may have passed peak oil consumption globally. Perhaps the energy transition has been given a great push by the novel corona virus. On the other hand, we could prop up the industry with subsidies until demand for the filthy stuff returns. https://climatecrocks.com/2020/04/20/could-corona-herald-peak-carbon/

The price of oil to be delivered next month became negative for the first time, indicating that people would pay to have it taken off their hands—partly because storage is hard to find. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/business/stock-market-live-trading-coronavirus.html

While the price of oil is likely to rise, it will be hard to forget than on April 20, 2020, you couldn’t even give it away.



2. Saudi Arabia can produce oil for around $10 a barrel. At the other extreme, shale oil is much more expensive—up to around $90 a barrel in Texas. Then you must process and transport it.  https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/051215/cost-shale-oil-versus-conventional-oil.asp

Oil may join coal as an unsalvageable industry. While the disruption will be painful, the continuation would be more painful still. Natural gas—commercial methane—is the next to fall.



3. BP is scrambling for a way somehow to be—or appear to be—environmentally responsible while carrying on making money from fossil fuels. https://phys.org/news/2020-04-decade-deepwater-bp-existential.html



4. The fossil fuel industry no longer makes economic sense. The sun is a free energy source, whether we use it as photoelectric energy or wind power. No one has to store it. Now it is up to us to see that fossil fuels no longer makes political sense. Stop the Money Pipeline, a coalition of climate action groups, is planning an online event, Earth Day Live. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/2020/apr/22/fossil-fuel-industry-stop-the-money-pipeline



5.  The Sierra Club’s Stop the Money Pipeline site gives details of the event. https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2020/02/stop-money-pipeline-announces-nationwide-day-action-protest-financing-climate

The Earth Day Live site: https://www.earthdaylive2020.org/?source=sierra-club-climate&referrer=group-sierra-club-climate



 6. Rewilding is being given an unplanned test run by covid-19 and the debut is heartening. https://phys.org/news/2020-04-people-home-earth-wilder-cleaner.html

Yesterday we were amazed to see a wild turkey hen looking for bugs in our Jacksonville, FL, front yard. We’re not rural. We do have healthy bugs.

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