Day 2: The Transition to Alternative Energy

The Challenges of Moving Away from Fossil Fuels

• Climate scientists agree that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
• Fossil fuels are embedded in our lives because they pack a lot of energy into a small space, are versatile, and cheap.
• Governments have put a huge amount of effort and action into making fossil fuels cheap, often in the form of subsidies.
• Direct subsidies are incentives offered to fossil fuel producers and consumers to drive prices down at the production end.
• Indirect subsidies refer to the costs passed on to someone other than the producer or the consumer, such as healthcare costs related to fossil fuel-generated energy and environmental damage caused by greenhouse gases.
• Governments keep discounting their own domestic fossil fuel supply to ensure energy stays cheap and they aren't as vulnerable to international conflict.
• Political parties often receive funding from the fossil fuel industry, putting pressure on them to act in ways that benefit those corporations.
• Some fuel corporations have participated in and even coordinated around misinformation campaigns to sow seeds of doubt about the true causes and impacts of climate change to protect their profits.
• The American Petroleum Institute worked to stop the world from moving away from fossil fuels by informing students and teachers about uncertainties in climate science.
• Oil and gas companies have created misleading materials that were sent to students and teachers, which aim to undermine what the global scientific community has learned about climate change.
• Individuals and groups are working hard to fight all kinds of misinformation, resulting in changing government policy, investment in research and technology for climate solutions, and clearer paths forward.
• Transitioning to other ways of getting energy, like solar or hydroelectric power, could help economies and people without the baggage that comes with fossil fuels, but the key word here is transition.

The Challenges of Moving Away from Fossil Fuels

• Climate scientists agree that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
• Fossil fuels are embedded in our lives because they pack a lot of energy into a small space, are versatile, and cheap.
• Governments have put a huge amount of effort and action into making fossil fuels cheap, often in the form of subsidies.
• Direct subsidies are incentives offered to fossil fuel producers and consumers to drive prices down at the production end.
• Indirect subsidies refer to the costs passed on to someone other than the producer or the consumer, such as healthcare costs related to fossil fuel-generated energy and environmental damage caused by greenhouse gases.
• Governments keep discounting their own domestic fossil fuel supply to ensure energy stays cheap and they aren't as vulnerable to international conflict.
• Political parties often receive funding from the fossil fuel industry, putting pressure on them to act in ways that benefit those corporations.
• Some fuel corporations have participated in and even coordinated around misinformation campaigns to sow seeds of doubt about the true causes and impacts of climate change to protect their profits.
• The American Petroleum Institute worked to stop the world from moving away from fossil fuels by informing students and teachers about uncertainties in climate science.
• Oil and gas companies have created misleading materials that were sent to students and teachers, which aim to undermine what the global scientific community has learned about climate change.
• Individuals and groups are working hard to fight all kinds of misinformation, resulting in changing government policy, investment in research and technology for climate solutions, and clearer paths forward.
• Transitioning to other ways of getting energy, like solar or hydroelectric power, could help economies and people without the baggage that comes with fossil fuels, but the key word here is transition.