This page explores the fossil fuel industries and their impact on Earth’s ecosystem and political systems.

Out of Eden: A Christian Study and Action Guide to Food and the Environment

A practical Study and Action Guide for use by small groups discussion or personal reflection. The guide covers topics that are actionable on the personal and policy levels: sugar’s impact on our bodies and sugar corporations’ truth-telling and accountability, corn and corn subsidies creating over-supply, plastic and its biological impact on animals and humans, the true cost of meat in terms of soil depletion and air pollution, and food waste and the practices which can diminish it.

Energy News. ENENews.  (website)

Wikipedia, List of Pipeline Accidents in the US in the 21st Century (Wikipedia article)

EarthFocus, Fracking Hell: The Untold Story. LinkTV, Jan 11, 2011. See also Kurzgesagt, Fracking Explained: Opportunity or Danger? Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, Sep 3, 2013.

Suzanne Goldenberg, Just 90 Companies Caused Two-Thirds of Man-Made Global Warming Emissions. The Guardian UK, Nov 20, 2013.

Phil Waggoner, I'm From West Virginia and I've Got Something to Say About the Chemical Spill. Huffington Post, Jan 14, 2014.

Reuters, Pollution from China is Hitting America's West Coast. Reuters, Jan 21, 2014.

Rebecca Leber, Exxon CEO Comes Out Against Fracking Project Because It Will Affect His Property Values. Think Progress, Feb 21, 2014.

Eric Roston and Blacki Migliozzi, Obama's EPA Rule Is Redrawing the U.S. Coal Map. Bloomberg, Apr 13, 2014.

Adrienne LaFrance, Man-Made Earthquakes Are Changing the Seismic Landscape. The Atlantic, Aug 8, 2014.

Rishi Manchanda, What Makes Us Sick? Look Upstream. TED Talk, Aug 2014.  Re: poor diet, stress, lack of fresh air

Stephen Keefe, This Canadian Artist Halted Pipeline Development by Copyrighting His Land as a Work of Art. Vice, Nov 6, 2014.  Peter von Tiesenhausen has a novel approach to dealing with assholes from oil companies—he claims his land counts as copyrighted art and charges them $500 an hour to meet with them.

Eric Lipton, Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General. New York Times, Dec 6, 2014.

Andreas Malm, The Anthropocene Myth. Jacobin, Mar 30, 2015.  About fossil fuel use, creative link to the Greek myth of fire.

Damian Carrington, Fossil Fuels Subsidized by $10m a Minute. The Guardian UK, May 18, 2015.

Juan Francisco Salazar, Buen Vivir: South America’s Rethinking of the Future We Want. The Conversation, Jul 23, 2015.  See also Richard Fatheruer, Buen Vivir. Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2011.  On Bolivia's Constitution giving rights to land.

John Oliver, North Dakota. Last Week Tonight, Oct 11, 2015.  A case study in oil economics and its impact on life, human and otherwise.

Bill McKibben, Exxon's Climate Lie: 'No Corporation Has Ever Done Anything This Big or Bad'. The Guardian UK, Oct 14, 2015.  See also Shannon Hall, Exxon Knew About Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago. Scientific American, Oct 26, 2015.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, I Don't Give a **** If We Agree About Climate Change. Facebook post, Dec 7, 2015.

Tom Philpott, As If Slavery Weren’t Enough, 6 Other Reasons to Avoid Shrimp. Mother Jones, Jan 6, 2016.  terrible working conditions in other countries, carbon footprint, antibiotics in shrimp, unhealthy product, impact on fish populations, competition with domestic American shrimp industry

Nathaniel Rich, The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare. New York Times Magazine, Jan 6, 2016.  See also Mariah Blake, Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia. Huffington Post.  See also Sharon Lerner, The Teflon Toxin: DuPont and the Chemistry of Deception. The Intercept, Aug 11, 2015.  Part 1 of an amazing series on the deception of DuPont.

National Geographic, How Big Oil Conquered the World. National Geographic, Jan 11, 2016.  and Dr. Mercola, How the Oil Industry Conquered Medicine, Finance and Agriculture. Mercola, Jan 16, 2016.

Jeff Nesbit, The War on Coal Exists, but Miners Are the Targets. US News & World Report, Jan 21, 2016.

Rupert Neate, Rockefeller Family Charity to Withdraw All Investments in Fossil Fuel Companies. Guardian, Mar 23, 2016.  Even though John D. Rockefeller made his fortune with oil.

Edward Humes, The Absurd Primacy of the Automobile in American Life. The Atlantic, Apr 12, 2016.

Kevin Maney, How Elon Musk is Using Tesla to Kill Big Oil. Newsweek, Aug 27, 2016.

Creation Justice Ministries, Christian Communities Support Standing Rock Sioux Protection of Land and Water from Dakota Access Pipeline. Creation Justice Ministries, Sep 6, 2016.

Joe Heim, Showdown Over Oil Pipeline Becomes a National Movement for Native Americans. Washington Post, Sep 7, 2016.

Maggie Koerth-Baker, How The Oil And Gas Industry Awakened Oklahoma’s Sleeping Fault Lines. FiveThirtyEight, Sep 9, 2016.

Zach Cartwright, Cable News Silent as Two States Declare Emergency After Pipeline Spill. US Uncut, Sep 16, 2016.

Adam Vaughn, BP Platform Leaks 95 Tonnes of Oil Into North Sea. The Guardian UK, Oct 3, 2016.

Reuters, Explosion Rocks Gas Pipeline In Alabama, Prompting Shutdown. Huffington Post, Nov 1, 2016.

Alleen Brown, Republican Kelly Ayotte Lost Millions of Dollars by Defying Koch Brothers on Climate Change. The Intercept, Nov 5, 2016.

The Young Turks, Pipeline Owner Laughing in Obama's Face. The Young Turks, Nov 10, 2016.

Mark Stone, How Mining, Oil And Gas Workers Are Retraining For The Solar Economy. Forbes, Nov 10, 2016.

Michelle E. Webber, The Coal Industry Isn't Coming Back. New York Times, Nov 15, 2016.

Robert Kennedy Jr, "Trump Has A $2 Million Stake in the Dakota Pipeline". The Big Picture RT, Nov 17, 2016.

The Young Turks, Dakota Access Pipeline Investors Panicking as Contract Deadline Looms. The Young Turks, Dec 7, 2016.

The Young Turks, Trump Puts Fossil Fuel Shill In Charge Of EPA (The Young Turks, Dec 7, 2016.

Kevin J. Delaney, Bill Gates and Investors Worth $170 Billion Are Launching a Fund to Fight Climate Change Through Energy Innovation. Quartz, Dec 11, 2016.  a $1b fund

Tom DiChristopher, Pipeline Spills 176,000 Gallons of Crude into Creek About 150 Miles from Dakota Access Protest Camp. CNBC, Dec 12, 2016.  and BEC Crew, That Thing the Standing Rock Protesters Were Afraid of Just Happened. Science Alert, Dec 14, 2016.

Alex Steffen, Trump, Putin and the Pipelines to Nowhere. Medium, Dec 15, 2016.

Patrick G. Lee, EPA Concludes Fracking a Threat to U.S. Water Supplie. (ProPublica, Dec 14, 2016.

ABC News, President Obama Bans Arctic Drilling in Way Trump Can't Reverse. ABC News, Dec 20, 2016.

Alexander C. Kaufman, Norway’s Top Oil Company Is Building A Huge Wind Farm Off New York’s Jones Beach. Huffington Post, Dec 20, 2016.

Anna Hirtenstein, Saudis Accelerating Sunward Tilt in Charge for Oil Revenue. Business Insider, Dec 20, 2016.

Bobby Magill, What Happened to Make America Coal Country Again? The West's Largest Coal Plant May Close. Salon, Jan 28, 2017.

Washington Post, Trump Signs Resolution to Permit Dumping Mining Waste into Waterways. Washington Post, Feb 21, 2017.  “The resolution, signed Feb. 16, reversed an Obama-era rule aimed at blocking coal-mining operations from dumping waste into nearby waterways.”

Debbie Dooley, I'm a Tea Party Conservative. Here's How to Win Over Republicans on Renewable Energy. Vox, Apr 18, 2017.

John Oliver, Coal. Last Week Tonight, Jun 18, 2017.  Survey of the coal industry, workers, corporations.

Tim Hollo, Elon Musk's Big Battery Brings Reality Crashing into a Post-Truth World. The Guardian, Jul 7, 2017.  Lithium battery can displace coal

Seth Miller, This Is How Big Oil Will Die. Shift Newco, May 25, 2017.  About electric cars making oil obsolete

Alex Blasdel, 'A Reckoning for Our Species': The Philosopher Prophet of the Anthropocene. The Guardian, Jun 15, 2017.

Rod Dreher, Idiocracy at the Department of Energy. The American Conservative, Aug 4, 2017.

Brendan O'Connor, How Fossil Fuel Money Made Climate Change Denial the Word of God. Splinter, Aug 8, 2017.  the tragic account of white evangelicals being co-opted

Sharon Lerner, A Legacy of Environmental Racism: Exxon Mobil Is Still Pumping Toxins into Black Community in Texas 17 Years After Civil Rights Complaint. The Intercept, Aug 13, 2017.

Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskesaug, What Exxon Mobil Didn’t Say About Climate Change. New York Times, Aug 22, 2017.

Tim McDonnell, Forget the Paris Agreement. The Real Solution to Climate Change is in the U.S. Tax Code. Washington Post, Oct 2, 2017.

Robinson Meyer, Rick Perry Wants to Bail Out the Coal Industry. The Atlantic, Oct 13, 2017.

David Roberts, 4 Signs That Trump's Furious Efforts to Save Coal Are Futile. Vox, Oct 19, 2017.

Susan Brink, Report: Pollution Kills 3 Times More Than AIDS, TB, and Malaria Combined. NPR, Oct 19, 2017.

Mayra Cuevas and Steve Almasy, Keystone Pipeline Leaks 210,000 Gallons of Oil in South Dakota. CNN, Nov 17, 2017.

Eric D. Lawrence, Former Volkswagen Manager Oliver Schmidt Gets 7 Years in Diesel Emissions Cheating Scandal. USA Today, Dec 6, 2017.

Umair Irfan, Cars and Trucks Are America's Biggest Climate Problem for the 2nd Year in a Row. Vox, Jan 14, 2018.

Javier Bass, The Dark Side of America’s Rise to Oil Superpower. Bloomberg, Jan 25, 2018.

Philip Oltermann, German Cities to Trial Free Public Transport to Cut Pollution. The Guardian, Feb 13, 2018.

Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Traffic Congestion is Taking a Toll on Boston. Should Boston Take a Toll on Congestion? Boston.com, Feb 20, 2018.

Sarah Jones and Emily Atkin, Rural America’s Drinking-Water Crisis. New Republic, Feb 12, 2018.  See also Darcey Rakestraw, New Analysis Reveals Martin County Water Crisis a Perfect Storm of Coal Industry Power, Mismanagement and Disinvestment. Food and Water Watch, Feb 27, 2018.  Re: the Massey coal sludge spill in 2000 contaminated water with heavy metals

Livia Albeck-Ripka, How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. New York Times, Apr 23, 2018.

David Roberts, The Northeast US Has a Carbon-Trading System. It is Boosting, Not Hurting, State Economies. Vox, Apr 25, 2018.

Raj Patel and Jason W Moore, How the Chicken Nugget Became the True Symbol of our Era. The Guardian, May 8, 2018.  When you turn the natural world into a profit-making machine

Justin Anderson, Focus on Scott Pruitt’s Scandals Ignores the Biggest of All: Destruction of Environmental Safeguards. Salon, May 25, 2018.

Eliza Griswold, Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux | Amazon page, Jun 12, 2018.  Re: the Appalachian region, environmental issues, and political divide between urban and rural America; see also review by Isaac Chotiner, What Is the Source of Disenfranchisement for Rural Americans? Slate, Jun 14, 2018.

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Antarctica Is Melting Three Times as Fast as a Decade Ago. New York Times, Jun 13, 2018.

John Abraham, The Legal Fight to Leave the Dirtiest Fossil Fuels in the Ground. The Guardian, Jun 14, 2018.

David Roberts, The Most Depressing Energy Chart of the Year. Vox, Jun 16, 2018.  Coal use increased.

Umair Irfan and Javier Zarracina, 4 Maps That Show Who’s Being Left Behind in America’s Wind-Power Boom. Vox, Jun 16, 2018.  The Southeast has less wind opportunity

Umair Irfan, Deepwater Horizon Led to New Protections for US Waters. Trump Just Repealed Them. Vox, Jun 22, 2018.

David Roberts, Sucking Carbon Out of the Air Won’t Solve Climate Change But It Might Fill in a Few Key Pieces of the Clean Energy Puzzle. Vox, Jul 16, 2018.

David Roberts, Trump’s Plan to Revoke California’s Car Pollution Waiver Makes a Mockery of Conservative Principles Vox, Jul 24, 2018.

Dave Merrill and Lauren Leatherby, Here’s How America Uses Its Land. Bloomberg, Jul 31, 2018.

Isabella Tree, If You Want to Save the World, Veganism Isn’t the Answer. The Guardian, Aug 25, 2018.  partly because of emissions but more so chemical erosion of soil which some livestock prevents

David Roberts, California Is This Close to Its Boldest Energy Target Yet: 100% Clean Energy. Vox, Sep 2, 2018.

David Roberts, We Could Shift to Sustainability and Save $26 Trillion. Why Aren't We Doing It? Vox, Sep 6, 2018.

Kat Lonsdorf, 'You Just Don't Touch That Tap Water Unless Absolutely Necessary'. NPR, Oct 3, 2018.  Coal sludge contaminating water

Umair Irfan, Sucking CO2 Out of the Atmosphere, Explained. Vox, Oct 24, 2018.

The Economist, The Social Costs of Ride Hailing May Be Larger Than Previously Thought. The Economist, Nov 3, 2018.

Hasan Minhaj, Oil. Patriot Act, Nov 11, 2018.  Oil spills, oil history, oil vs. renewable energy, Trump's and Zinke's policies

Annabelle Timsit, France’s Fuel Protests Show How Poor People Can Bear the Cost of Fighting Climate Change. MSN/Quartz, Nov 18, 2018.  Diesel exhaust, carbon taxes, etc.

Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptations in the United States. National Climate Assessment, Nov 23, 2018.  See also Coral Davenport and Kendra Pierre-Louis, National U.S. Climate Report Warns of Damaged Environment and Shrinking Economy. New York Times, Nov 23, 2018.

Paul Krugman, Climate Denial Was the Crucible for Trumpism. New York Times, Dec 3, 2018.  and Ibram X. Kendi, What the Believers Are Denying. The Atlantic, Jan 1, 2018.  "The denial of climate change and the denial of racism rest on the same foundation: an attack on observable reality."

Eric Lipton, Steve Eder, John Branch, Gabriella Demczuk, This is Our Reality Now. New York Times, Dec 27, 2018.

Lisa Friedman, New E.P.A. Plan Could Free Coal Plants to Release More Mercury Into the Air. New York Times, Dec 28, 2018.

Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Kendra Pierre-Louis, 78 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump. New York Times, Dec 28, 2018.

Julia Belluz, Want to Fix Obesity and Climate Change at the Same Time? Make Big Food Companies Pay. Vox, Jan 28, 2019.  "A new report says food companies are pursuing profit at the expense of public and environmental health"

Richard Conniff, Want Scrubbing Carbon from the Sky. Scientific American, Jan 2019.  "Can we remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere to slow or even reverse climate change?"

Erik Kirschbaum, Germany to Close All 84 of Its Coal-Fired Power Plants, Will Rely Primarily on Renewable Energy. Los Angeles Times, Jan 29, 2019.

Associated Press, Trump's Rollbacks of Fossil Fuel Regulations May Carry Steep Costs. CBS News, Jan 28, 2019.

Brad Plumer and Blacki Migiozzi, How to Cut U.S. Emissions Faster? Do What These Countries Are Doing. New York Times, Feb 13, 2019.

Jonathan Chait, Trump Has Lost His War on the War on Coal. New York Magazine, Feb 18, 2019.

Geo History, Petroleum - Modern History of Oil on a Map.  Geo History, Mar 2, 2019.  A 14 minute video that gives the science behind oil, and history of oil economics and politics.

PBS Newshour, Why Louisianans Blame Government, Not Corporations, for Pollution. PBS News Hour, Mar 21, 2019.  citizens of the second poorest state rely on federal aid and reject the concept of “big government,” and feel betrayed by their state's government for failing to protect them from toxic pollution.

Brian Palmer, Week 120: Trump Can’t Even Run a Garbage Dump Properly. OnEarth, May 10, 2019.  largest sources of methane emissions:. 1.  oil and gas drilling;. 2.  livestock;. 3.  garbage landfills. Meanwhile, Trump proposes slashing the EPA budget, while the U.S. refuses to sign any agreement protecting Arctic areas from drilling

Daniel Horowitz, This Chemical Kills. Why Aren’t Regulators Banning It? New York Times, Jul 8, 2019.  re: the refinery blast in Philadelphia; hydrogen flouride is used in oil refineries

Hasan Minhaj, Why Your Public Transportation Sucks. Patriot Act, Aug 19, 2019.  At the federal level, Trump administration defunds public transit repair; at the local level, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Progress. who profit from car sales and fossil fuel use.  flip voters through disinformation campaigns raising fears about taxation. However, public transit generates more jobs per dollar than roads. Racial segregation drives prioritizing roads and cars over buses and trains.

The Economist, The Past, Present, and Future of Climate Change. The Economist, Sep 21, 2019.  Replacing the fossil-fuel technology which is reshaping the climate remains a massive task

Rachel Maddow, Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth. Crown | Amazon page, Oct 2019.  See interview by Andrea Mitchell, Maddow: Why Russia’s Economy Can Help Explain Putin Election Interference. Andrea Mitchell | MSNBC, Oct 3, 2019.  See interview by Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow On Her New Book "Blowout". The Last Word | MSNBC, Oct 5, 2019.  See also Basav Sen, Dig Beneath the World’s Far-Right Governments—You’ll Find Fossil Fuels. Foreign Policy in Focus, Oct 9, 2019.  “From Brazil to India to the United States, extractive industries have aligned themselves with authoritarian governments waging war on minority populations”

Nadja Popovich and Denise Lu, The Most Detailed Map of Auto Emissions in America. New York Times, Oct 10, 2019.

Elan Young, Coal Knew, Too. Huffington Post, Nov 22, 2019.  “A newly unearthed journal from 1966 shows the coal industry, like the oil industry, was long aware of the threat of climate change.”

Oliver Laughland and Emily Holden, Why Is This Top Democrat Absent from the Fight Against Toxic Pollution in Cancer Alley? The Guardian, Dec 12, 2019.  re: Cedric Richmond. D-LA. , Representative of the district containing a densely populated area between New Orleans and Baton Rouge called “Cancer Alley.” “Seven of the 10 most air-polluted census tracts in America sit in his district, according to EPA data. While a proposed massive expansion of a plastics factory in his district could almost double the amount of toxic air pollution in the parish it will be constructed in. Analysis of Richmond’s news releases shows he has not mentioned air pollution in his district at any point during his tenure. An examination of congressional records, suggests he has not spoken about the issue in Congress… During almost a decade in Congress Richmond has taken over $400,000 in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry and chemical manufacturers…” See also Oliver Laughland, Democrat Takes First Public Stance on Air Pollution in Cancer Alley After Guardian Report. The Guardian, Jan 8, 2020.

Michael Sainato, Fighting the Fossil Fuel Economy in Appalachia. Prospect, Jan 17, 2020.  “With the coal industry dying, public officials are promoting fracking and petrochemicals. Activists are working to demonstrate that the region’s real economic future is green.”

David Doel, CNBC's Jim Cramer Says Divestment Has Destroyed Fossil Fuels. The Rational National, Feb 1, 2020.  big pension funds, etc. are divesting despite solid yields and dividends; younger people believe you cannot make fossil fuel companies sustainable and profitable

Patrick Greenfield and Jonathan Watts, JP Morgan Economists Warn Climate Change is Threat to Human Race. The Guardian UK, Feb 21, 2020.

Malcolm Harris, Shell Is Looking Forward. New York Magazine, Mar 3, 2020.  “The fossil-fuel companies expect to profit from climate change. I went to a private planning meeting and took notes.”

Jean Chemmick, Administration Completes Climate Dismantling with Methane Rollback. Scientific American, Aug 14, 2020.  “New rules provide laxer requirements for finding and repairing leaks of the potent greenhouse gas.”

David Roberts, Air Pollution is Much Worse Than We Thought. Vox, Aug 12, 2020.  “Ditching fossil fuels would pay for itself through clean air alone”

Siham Zniber, Tribal and Environmental Groups Sue Trump Administration over Methane Emissions Rollbacks. Earthjustice, Sep 15, 2020.  “Gutting two of the most vital methane pollution protections in the midst of a global pandemic would further jeopardize public health”

Jayni Hines and Max Sarinsky, The Trump Administration’s Bad Deal for Public Lands. Politico, Oct 7, 2020.  “Oil and gas prices are at record lows, so why is the Interior Department selling drilling leases as fast as it can?” “Interior briefly paused oil and gas lease sales over the summer due to Covid-19, but has since resumed them at a rapid pace. Over the past two weeks, the department has offered for lease over 100,000 acres of public land across nine states, predominantly in the West and the South, with six more sales scheduled before 2021. These sales open the door to drilling in habitats for endangered and threatened species in Montana, and immediately adjacent to Fishlake National Forest in Utah and the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge in Colorado.”

Brookings Institute, Tracking Deregulation in the Trump Era. Brookings Institute, to date.  provides a list of deregulatory initiatives

Laura Sullivan, How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled. NPR, Sep 11, 2020.

Sarah Lazare, “Colonizing the Atmosphere”: How Rich, Western Nations Drive the Climate Crisis. In These Times, Sep 14, 2020.  “New analysis finds the Global North is responsible for 92% of all excess global carbon dioxide emissions, while the Global South bears the brunt of the devastation.”

Christine MacDonald, Exxon Spends Millions on Facebook To Keep the Fossil Fuel Industry Alive. In These Times, Oct 20, 2020.  “Aided by a right-wing political consulting firm, the company is rallying supporters to fight for oil and gas interests at every level of government.”

CNN, This Town Powered America for Decades. What Do We Owe Them? CNN, Jan 25, 2021.  Gillette, Wyoming was a coal town that went bust. This raises a good question about the market and obligation. If people paid a fair price for coal before, why would the country owe Gillette anything more? Would Gillette become a ghost town, apart from federal investment to transition to a new economy? It raises a political problem. But notice that Gillette is white. Do we ask this question about black cities and towns where jobs left for elsewhere? Notice also that one Gillette resident — interviewed because he is presumably not unusual — doesn’t want to “ask the government for help.”

Bloomberg Quicktake, Why This Fight May Be the End of Oil Pipelines. Bloomberg Quicktake, Apr 29, 2021.  a 16 minute video about the Keystone XL Pipeline and its historical and political significance

Beth Daley, Mark DesJardine and Tima Bansal: Engine No. 1’s Big Win Over Exxon Shows Activist Hedge Funds Joining Fight Against Climate Change. The Conversation, May 26, 2021.  DesJardine and Bansal are business sustainability scholars; they include very helpful links, and give helpful background to Exxon’s corporate history. See also Jennifer Hiller and Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Exxon Loses Board Seats to Activist Hedge Fund in Landmark Climate Vote. Reuters, May 26, 2021.  for more on the corporate politics.

The Economist, How Britain Decarbonised Faster Than Any Other Rich Country. The Economist, Feb 20, 2021.  Shutting down coal plants

Oliver Milman, Oil Firms Knew Decades Ago Fossil Fuels Posed Grave Health Risks. The Guardian, Mar 18, 2021.  See commentary by John Iadarola and Brett Ehrlich, Internal Memo Reveals Oil Firms Knew Everything. The Damage Report, Mar 20, 2021.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Lawyer Found Guilty In Chevron Show Trial Revealing Corruption. Breaking Points, Jul 27, 2021.

Rep. Katie Porter (Twitter, Aug 12, 2021).  “Big Oil is supposed to help cover the costs of the damage they do to public lands, but they've devised a scheme to leave taxpayers on the hook: form shell companies, declare bankruptcy, and abandon their messes.” Includes video clip with Public Citizen.

The Economist, Poorly Devised Regulation Lets Firms Pollute with Abandon. The Economist, Sep 4, 2021.  helpful chart and discussion; “Polluting companies at risk of punishment cut their exhaust by 7% when the government is watching. Athletes don’t get advance warning of drug tests. Cops don’t share schedules of planned raids. Yet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't seem convinced of the value of surprise in deterring bad behavior. Every year it publishes a list of dates, spaced at six-day intervals, on which it will require state and local agencies to provide data on concentrations of harmful fine particulate matter. pm2.5. , such as soot or cement dust.”

Geo History, History of the Major Trade Routes - Summary on a Map.  Geo History, Sep 27, 2021.  A 20 minute video from ancient to modern times.

Vox, The End of Oil, Explained. Vox and Netflix, Sep 30, 2021.  is a 23 minute video, very educational

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Media Silent as Steven Donziger Jailed in Chevron Corporate Prosecution. Breaking Points, Oct 4, 2021.  explains how Big Oil has corrupted this judge’s decision, as Chevron gets revenge on attorney Steven Donziger for successfully defending indigenous rights

Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Ramon Mejia, War Helps Fuel the Climate Crisis as U.S. Military Carbon Emissions Exceed 140+ Nations. Democracy Now, Nov 9, 2021.  See also Amy Goodman and Amitav Ghosh, “A Process of Violence”: Indian Author Amitav Ghosh on How Colonialism Fueled the Climate Crisis. Democracy Now, Nov 10, 2021.

Knowing Better, Extracting Black Gold | History of Oil.  Knowing Better, May 27, 2020.  This 32 minute video is excellent, explaining the history of petroleum policy and international relations in light of petroleum.

Climate Town, The Time America Almost Stopped Climate Change.  Climate Town, Jan 21, 2021.  Unbelievably, Exxon was once the leader in scientific study of climate change, but the Reagan administration changed laws and ExxonMobile used disinformation to promote doubt.

Rollie Williams, How the Auto Industry Carjacked the American Dream.  Climate Town, Apr 8, 2021.  Car companies used front companies to buy up street cars and shut them down, used racist advertising to shoot down politicians who wanted to regulate cars, and launched PR campaigns to demonize pedestrians on the road.

Kate Yoder, The EPA is Tackling Pollution in “Cancer Alley”.  Salon, Feb 2, 2022.

Second Thought, Your "Carbon Footprint" Is A Scam.  Second Thought, Feb 4, 2022. 

CNBC, Why The U.S. Has Millions Of Leaking Oil And Gas Wells.  CNBC, Feb 24, 2022.  These wells are leaking methane contributing up to 7% of methane pollution in the atmosphere.  

Mike Patton, The Real Reason Behind Surging Gas Prices.  Forbes, Mar 9, 2022.  Examines the Keystone XL pipeline vs. COVID-19 supply chain disruptions vs. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  The correct answer:  Russia.

Matt Bruenig, Nationalize the Oil Companies.  People’s Policy Project, Mar 10, 2022.  “Relying on private investors to prop up a dying industry is foolish.”

Briahna Joy Gray, Gov't Could Nationalize Gas & Stop Price Gouging Instead Of Subsidizing Big Oil.  Rising, Mar 23, 2022.  The US can exercise eminent domain to acquire 51% of the shares.

Andrew Perez, Oil Mogul Bankrolls Attempt To Buy Democratic Primary.  The Lever, Apr 16, 2022.  “One month after Samson Energy mogul Stacy Schusterman poured $2 million into DMFI PAC, the group purchased TV ads starting Monday to boost Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) in her primary campaign rematch against former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner in a newly redrawn Cleveland congressional district. The primary election date is May 3.”

Frontline PBS, The Power of Big Oil, Part One: Denial. Frontline PBS, Apr 18, 2022.  Exxon, Shell, and coal companies knew about carbon dioxide causing climate change. They also predicted that governments would start to act in the late 1980s.  Scientist testimony from within the fossil fuel research departments.  Frontline PBS, The Power of Big Oil, Part Two: Doubt. Frontline PBS, Apr 18, 2022.   

Amy Goodman, Free After 993 Days: Steven Donziger on Leaving House Arrest & His Fight with Chevron. Democracy Now, Apr 26, 2022. Chevron retaliated against attorney Donziger for successfully prosecuting a $18 billion case of polluting native land. Chevron’s behavior strongly suggests that fossil fuel companies will use all manner of political pressure, corruption of judges and lawmakers, and even intimidation, to maintain their profits. Ultimately, the US may have to follow the model of Norway in nationalizing oil and other fossil fuel companies.

Rollie Williams, Who Actually Controls Gas Prices? Climate Town, May 31, 2022.  An informative 23 minute video breaking down contributing factors, history of oil and gas as industries.

Robert Reich, Gas Companies Owe You Money -- Here’s How You Can Get It. Robert Reich, Aug 2, 2022. Reich gives a data-driven analysis of price gouging. He advocates a Windfall Profits Tax that would rebate consumers.

Libcom.org, West Virginia’s Mine Wars, 1920 - 1921.  Libcom.org, Sep 2, 2014.  Has a helpful bibliography.  See also Wikipedia, Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed uprising since the US Civil War, which occurred in Logan County, West Virginia.  See also Wikipedia, Battle of Matewan, a shootout in the Pocahontas Coalfield on May 19, 1920.  Reports also say that the first military aerial bombing in the US was anti-labor, in Mingo County.  See Jeff Scott, First Aerial Bombardment in the US.  Aerospaceweb.org, Apr 6, 2003. “The event occurred in Mingo County, West Virginia, in 1920. Mingo County was the site of often bloody battles over the right of coal miners to unionize during the late 1910s and early 1920s. The fighting reached its peak in 1920 after many local miners had joined the United Mine Workers union. Attempting to put a stop to the movement, mine owners began bringing in guards to break up the unions and prevent new members from joining. This growing confrontation soon led to a rebellion among the miners in which some 15,000 armed men marched on the county seats of Mingo and Logan counties attempting to overthrow the local governments.  According to this story, President Harding sent Army generals H.H. Bandholtz and Billy Mitchell to take control of the situation. Billy Mitchell, of course, was one of the early advocates of air power and helped to form the US Army Air Corps, later to become the US Air Force. It is claimed that Mitchell deployed a squadron of bombers to Charleston in order to intimidate the miners.”

CNBC, How Waves Could Power A Clean Energy Future.  CNBC, Sep 3, 2022.  

Deutsche Welle, German Gas Giant Uniper Nationalized Amid Spiraling Energy Costs.  Deutsche Welle News, Sep 21, 2022.  

Dan Dicker, Joe Biden Is the Greatest Oil Trader Ever. Dan Dicker, Oct 19, 2022. See also Chris Hayes, How Joe Biden ‘Broke OPEC’ and Rewrote the Rules for Oil Trading. All In | MSNBC, Jun 7, 2024.

Oxfam Policy and Practice, Carbon Billionaires: The Investment Emissions of the World’s Richest People.  Oxfam International.  Nov 7, 2022.  This is a 32 page report.  See summary by Oxfam International, A Billionaire Emits a Million Times More Greenhouse Gases Than the Average Person.  Oxfam International, Nov 7, 2022.  Amy Goodman, “Carbon Billionaires”: Oxfam Calls for Taxing Rich Who Profit from Emissions Fueling Climate Crisis.  Democracy Now, Nov 11, 2022.  125 billionaires produce CO2 output equal to France.  

CNBC, Why The U.S. Government Is (Still) Obsessed With Corn. CNBC, Dec 6, 2022.  Subsidies go to ethanol for fuel, feed grain for animals, 

Deutsche Welle News, Geothermal Energy is Renewable and Powerful. Why Is Most of It Untapped?  Deutsche Welle Planet A, Dec 18, 2020.  Starts with Iceland as a case study, which generates 30% of its electricity with geothermal sources.  Iceland responded to the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s by seeking renewable sources of energy.  Indonesia is exploring geothermal power as well.  The challenge is startup cost:  it takes years to develop.  

Shannon Osaka, U.S. Agency Examines Secret Pollution Source in 40 Million Homes: Gas Stoves.  Washington Post, Jan 10, 2023.  “The hidden hazard of these appliances, indoor air quality exposure and asthma is finally getting attention.”  “All cooking creates some form of air pollution. But gas stoves are burning natural gas, a mix of methane and other chemicals. That means that when a gas stove is on, it releases not only fine pieces of particulate matter that can invade the lungs, but also nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde — all of which have been linked to various health risks.”

Peter Zeihan, The Map of Oil.  Globe Watch, May 7, 2023.  Very good statistical overview of oil distribution by nation, and history of oil politics and economics.

Peter Zeihan, Mohammed Bin Salman.  Globe Watch, May 27, 2023.  Overview of MBS’s goals and leadership, including the conflict of Saudi Arabia vs. Iran.

Peter Zeihan, The US Oil Secret: A Powerhouse Hidden In Plain Sight.  Peter Zeihan, Economy and Geopolitics, Jun 8, 2023.

Keep Curious, The Town of Silent Poison (Documentary) - How Picher, OK Became the Most Toxic Town in America.  Keep Curious Co. Jun 14, 2023.  A 40 minute video documentary.  

“The now defunct town of Picher, Oklahoma was once considered the most toxic place in the United States. Decades of lead and zinc mining scarred the landscape, with scattered 200-foot-tall mountains of waste sitting on top of severely undermined land and highly acidic water flowing through and out.

The decline of mining activities and subsequent abandonment of mine shafts and waste resulted in widespread toxic metal and sulfuric acid contamination over decades - an active contamination that continues to this day. At the time of its placement on the EPA’s National Priority List and its designation as a superfund site in 1983, it was considered the worst active environmental disaster in the United States. Despite this distinction, the EPA dragged their feet on cleanup for decades, turning a blind eye wherever convenient, all while barring the Quapaw landowners from participating and contributing to cleanup efforts.

The massive piles of mining waste, otherwise known mine tailings, or “chat,” contain dangerous concentrations of lead, zinc, and cadmium. And the effects of these toxic metals would become tragically apparent due to a growing number of health problems in children living in and around the waste.

This documentary tells the story of how a small town in northeast Oklahoma became the most toxic town in America, what effects that toxicity has had on residents, the decades of ongoing and fragmented cleanup efforts, and what the future holds for the Tar Creek Superfund site.

Peter Zeihan, What in the World Is Happening?  Burr and Foreman LLP, Jun 29, 2023.  A 90 minute video with Zeihan’s original slides rather than someone else’s graphics.  Zeihan starts with demographic population data and raises the economic questions from there.  The US Fed Reserve is responding to population decrease and raising interest rates to have some kind of monetary policy leverage to stimulate economic growth for when Canada, US, and Mexico have to form the main trade partnerships and leave globalization behind.  The Russia and Ukraine war, Zeihan argues, is existential on both sides.  The risky implications for global oil trade:  China’s collapse because of their energy dependence will happen in the next decade; Russian Federation collapse because of their population decline, permafrost vulnerability, and internal ethnic conflicts like Chechnya.

Amy Goodman, "Double Agents": Lobbyists for Big Tech, Universities & Eco Groups Also Work for Big Oil. Democracy Now, Jul 7, 2023.

Joe Blogs, Russian $140 Billion Oil Disaster as Price Falls, Production Cuts & Sanction Discounts Hurt Russia. Joe Blogs, Jul 12, 2023.

Peter Santenello, Poorest Region of America - What It Really Looks Like.  Peter Santenello, Jul 15, 2023.  West Virginia coal country and the Appalachian Mountain communities. 

The Black Forest Family, Driving Culture Clash: Why Do Our Cars Look so Radically Different?  The Black Forest Family, Jul 30, 2023.  Very helpful stats, consideration of law and regulation, and personal narrative.  In the US, vehicle crash tests are done to minimize damage to vehicle occupants.  In Germany, they are done to minimize damage to pedestrians and cyclists, too, which is a big reason for why their cars are smaller and lower.

Joe Blogs, Russia - Disaster for Economy as Ukraine War Causes Mass Exodus & Reduction in Number of Students.  Joe Blogs, Jul 31, 2023.  Estimated 1.2 million people have left Russia, who are mostly highly educated.

Joe Blogs, Russian Gas Disaster as $75 Billion Revenue Evaporates But Europe Faces More Issues in Winter 2023.  Joe Blogs, Aug 3, 2023.  Very helpful charts.  Notes that the “Power of Siberia” 1900 mile gas line from Russia to China supplies 10% of China’s gas import needs.  By contrast, the Nord Stream pipeline was 4x that capacity.  Russia has proposed a deal with Mongolia and China to build a “Power of Siberia 2” pipeline that might be completed in 2030. 

Lucy Dean Stockton, A Wildlife Refuge Stays Wild.  The Lever, Sep 9, 2023.  The Alaskan Arctic and oil. 

Dharna Noor, New Files Shed Light on ExxonMobile’s Attempts to Undermine Climate Science. The Guardian UK, Sep 14, 2023.  

Robert Weissman, The Corporate Sabotage of America’s Future.  Public Citizen, Sep 2023.  Free PDF book.  See interview by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Corruption Expert: How Pharma Stole Half a Trillion From Taxpayers.  Breaking Points, Sep 26, 2023.  

Real Life Lore, Why Norway Is Becoming the World’s Richest Country. Real Life Lore, Feb 7, 2024. In short, a cooperative and communal culture which resulted in a well-designed public sphere: a limited democratic socialism in combination with some private capitalism when developing its oil and gas resources.

Emily Jashinsky and Krystal Ball, Former Miner Reveals Coal Barons' Dirty Secrets. Counter Points | Breaking Points, Feb 23, 2024. JD Belcher, former coal miner and now documentarian, reveals the dirty secrets of US coal barons. Coal execs refuse to pay for respirators instead of bare-faced exploration. Mines are evaluated and patterns of violations are often ignored. Check out JD's Podcast: https://upperbigbranch.com/

Chris Hayes, 'Quid Pro Quo:' Trump Vowed to Gut Climate Laws in Exchange for $1B from Oil Bosses. All In | MSNBC, May 10, 2024.

Michael Lewis, The Canary: Chris Mark in the Department of Labor. Washington Post, Sep 3, 2024. A fascinating and deeply personal look at coal mining in West Virginia.

Noah Smith, Harris Needs to Be Pennsylvania Fracking’s Biggest Champion. Noahpinion | Substack, Sep 16, 2024. Good data and consideration of multiple factors.