Post by @juergen_hubert@mementomori.social

@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social · 15 hours ago

It's easy to despair these days. But I want you to remember this:

The change from fossil fuels to renewable energies cannot be stopped. Renewables and battery systems are getting better and more widespread every year. And what we are seeing right now is an extinction burst of the fossil fuel industry and their political allies. They know that they will lose their entire business model very soon, so they are doing immense amount of lobbying to squeeze as much profit out of their business as they can.

But soon, they will not matter any more. Sure, they might hold on a few centers of power for a little while longer - the USA, as well as Europe (to a lesser degree). But the rest of the world is already moving on.

The collapse of human civilization is _not_ inevitable. The fight for our environment remains important - the sooner the fossil fuel lobbies are stopped, the less damage they can do. But the outcome is not in doubt - they will fall.

Bjørnar (he/him)

@btuftin@social.coop · 6 hours ago

@juergen_hubert I don't think this is true. Yes, the decreased price of green energy and it's increased deployment is great, but the only regions that have decreased fossil fuel use have in part done so by outsourcing much production to other regions, like China, where fossil fuel use is still growing, along with green energy. Unless we can convince people to reduce and shift consumption, fossil fuels will stay a part of the energy mix. Perhaps it will start dropping in absolute numbers in five-ten years, though I wouldn't even bet on that, but it will need to drop substantially before we even move out of the "CO2 is still increasing" range. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AGlobal_annual_CO2_emissions_by_world_region_since_1750.svg

Jürgen Hubert

@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social · 2 hours ago

@btuftin

That graph ends just at the point when China's CO2 emissions started to flatline.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-co2-emissions-have-now-been-flat-or-falling-for-21-months/

Carbon Brief

Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been ‘flat or falling’ for 21 months - Carbon Brief

China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell by 1% in the final quarter of 2025, likely securing a decline of 0.3% for the full year as a whole.

2xfo

@RnDanger@infosec.exchange · 12 hours ago

@juergen_hubert they will fail. I just hope they fail before the rest of us

Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary

@pteryx@dice.camp · 14 hours ago

@juergen_hubert
In many contexts, people insisting "oh, this is just an extinction burst!" don't fit the evidence, and thus seem like they're attempting to make people stop screaming so loud as they're beaten over and over by fascists.

In the context of the rise of renewables and the end of fossil fuels, though? The idea that we're going through an extinction burst *absolutely* rings true. All indications are that energy grids are getting greener, all over the world, despite everything.

Petra van Cronenburg

@NatureMC@mastodon.online · 15 hours ago

@juergen_hubert I want to share your hope.
When I was younger, i called these people/organisations dinosaurs: the meteorite already hit them but now they roar extra loudly and try everything to survive. But at the same time some smart tiny mice are already part of the evolution.

The problem is that we’re impatient, we don’t want to wait thousands of years, and – especially on social media – we allow ourselves to be manipulated by so-called real-time information that bombards us with the 'rooar'