After years working on sustainability projects with BP and Shell, Jonathon Porritt says he came to the conclusion it was ‘impossible’ for today’s oil and gas companies to adapt to the need to exit fossil fuels.
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They are selling oil, and if we don’t buy it, there is little they can do. In every industry and every human activity the focus needs to be on developing processes that tie the carbon into the soil, where its place is, and that do not generate more of it than the absolute minimum. We need to be able to produce and transport food without relying on fossil fuels (or pesticides or chemical fertilisers). Once we can do that, we’ll be fine as working out how to do that will teach us many things applicable elsewhere too. There are examples, it is simple and elegant (even though not always easy, or obvious), it just needs to be done more.
We also need to green the deserts. That will tie the carbon too, produce oxygen and influence water cycles on earth. It will lower the temperature too simply by creating shade. Cities need to build cycle lanes, etc… Eventually that will become normality and everybody will be part of it. And some dinosaurs may go extinct, but new life will come up in their place.