Perspective: Why CA’n social justice advocates should support fossil fuels

Public policy consultant Todd Royal explains recent trends in global energy consumption. 85% of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels (and just 5% is derived from renewable sources). While countless communities worldwide struggle to produce sufficient electricity, why isn’t California working with ample fossil fuel energy sources to “lift billions out of poverty”? Royal discusses discrepancies between social justice rhetoric and political action on Fox & Hounds Daily. To receive daily updates of new Opp Now stories, click here.

Other startling numbers for ecologically friendly and social-justice-aware Californians to consider are 1.2 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have reliable electricity. Add 1.4 billion people within India, another 1.45 billion people from China, and this example: “collectively, South African women and children walk a daily distance equivalent to 16 trips to the moon and back to fetch water.” Wanting and needing fossil fuels are something to consider when “(approximately) 4 billion people lack enough electricity to enjoy a modern life.” 

Modern life is defined in California and the U.S., as 13,000 kWh per year, per person of electricity according to the World Bank; and the European Union (EU) is around 6,000 kWh per year, per person. Energy poverty and the overarching need for fossil fuels is starkly illustrated by having “3 billion humans rely on biomass like wood, dung (human and animal feces), and charcoal for cooking and heating.” 

If Californians care about social justice and eliminating energy poverty, then every fossil fuel exploration and production option should be available for in-state use and exporting at cost to billions globally who are dying from lack of energy. With technological progress and abundant California energy we have the opportunity to lift billions out of poverty.

This article originally appeared in Fox & Hounds Daily. Read the whole thing here.

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Image by Robert S. Donovan