Last week I fell across a funny Australian news site, The Shovel, whose top story was headlined, “Man announces he will quit drinking by 2050.”
I got it, as do you. This lovely piece of satire was about climate change. Greg Taylor would be able to continue to drink for the foreseeable future before reducing consumption in 2048 when he turned 101. He’d also be able to bring forward drinking credits earned from the days over the past 40 years he has drunk nothing.
As someone who doesn’t drink alcohol because of my own addictive tendencies, this got me to thinking about “our addiction to fossil fuels” and whether that’s just a lazy phrase, or if it’s true. In other words, do we behave like addicts when it comes to our oil and gas consumption? And, can how we treat alcoholics and addicts help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels – and save the planet?
So, short answer?