What effects do the financial crisis have on the climate change crisis and its associated movements and debates? Does the financial crisis have a beneficial effect on our planet wrecking activities? Or will it just cause less money in our collective pockets?

One thing is for sure, the media's earlier focus on the climate crisis is gone. Ever since the USA cried out loud that the economic system was nearing collapse media has covered the financial crisis closely while all news about the health of the planet has been tugged nicely under the carpet.

Oil usage declines

As the price of oil goes down our demand for oil goes up, and so a new balance is found where a maximum amount of oil is again used each day. Over 80 million barrels of oil is consumed every day. One would hope that the financial crisis would bring about a falling demand for oil, but as the prices goes down that will never occur.

Oil is but one of the big three fossil fuels that when consumed contribute to the increasing greenhouse effect. Coal and natural gas are the other two forms of fossil fuel. There is no longer any scientific debate to whether humans contribute to the warming of the planet or not, the evidence is overwhelming. Decreasing our daily usage of oil would be a good start to decreasing humanity’s carbon footprint.

I concur with Matt Simmons; we should put a floor on the price of oil, let’s say at $120 per barrel, and continue raising it over time. The extra tax generated for each barrel should be distributed to efforts in renewable energy as well as methods and products that feature improved efficiency which has been proven again and again to be the cheapest way to decrease our strain on the planet.

Renewable energy investments

I find it likely that investments in renewable energy will decline as the financial crisis continues. This is really bad news since we need to make the transition to renewable energy sources for a multitude of reasons as quickly as possible.

Great Britain’s prime minister recently stated that economic stability has priority over the environment, casually ignoring the many earlier statements where the cost of ignoring the climate change crisis could very well shrink the world’s economies by 20 %. The “Stern Report” is truly horrific reading and a report everyone should read. Both Gordon Brown and his predecessor Tony Blair have both read it and throughout 2006 and 2007 tried to push forward more stringent CO2 regulations and taxes in the European Union as well as Great Britain.

I find it appalling how rulers, as well as citizens, can so quickly forget the calculated costs of the climate crisis. But opinions change quickly when the USA cries wolf.