Setting the record straight on the day’s top anti-oil and gas media stories
ACTIVIST CLAIM: Youth anti-oil and gas activists join Tzeporah Berman’s campaign to mislead the world about the life-changing benefits of oil and gas.
THE FACTS: Oil and gas saves lives, improves quality of life and has taken millions out of poverty
THE SOURCES:
Young people call for fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty as delegates spar over coal, oil and gas
Here are some facts and sources to have a reasoned conversation about reliable energy:
- Hydrocarbons have been responsible for improvements in life expectancy, health, reduction in infant mortality, education, equality over the past 200 years. Our objective should be to keep these benefits while we reduce the impacts.
https://www.humanprogress.org/celebrate-the-industrial-revolution-and-the-fossil-fuels-which-drove-it/
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/10/f79/Natural%20Gas%20Benefits%20Report.pdf - Oil and gas literally saves lives. Plastics made from natural gas liquids, such as
ethane, have helped revolutionize healthcare delivery especially in fighting the COVID virus.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/10/f79/Natural%20Gas%20Benefits%20Report.pdf - Even the founder of 350.org Bill McKibben acknowledges the miraculous improvement in the human condition from hydrocarbons in the past. Many experts think oil and gas will win the race to net zero in the future.
https://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2021/10/22/betting-on-canadian-energy-innovation/
https://www.iea.org/commentaries/can-co2-eor-really-provide-carbon-negative-oi - 1.2 billion people lack basic access to affordable energy needed for human progress and that could lift them from poverty and lower infant mortality rates.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-billion-people-without-access-to-electricity/#:~:text=Access%20to%20electricity%20is%20now,living%20without%20this%20basic%20necessity.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665972719300157 - As the population grows, we need even more solutions that dematerialize, so we use less land and fewer materials per person. The proposals from anti-oil and gas activists use more materials and more land per person and are a step backward for people and the planet.
https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/24d5dfbb-a77a-4647-abcc-667867207f74/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf
Stories that get it right:
Africa has sights set on hydrocarbon haul despite global shift
As COP26 wraps up with new climate change commitments from world powers, different countries in Africa are looking towards more oil and gas to tackle poverty and a lack of energy. In the words of the Ivory Coast’s minister of mines, petroleum and energy, “for our African nations, we have to ensure that our populations have access to energy … We will not turn our back to oil and energy companies so we can ensure the happiness – and even the existence – of our populations.”
