I’ve started a Substack for a number of reasons, one of them being a place to publish articles that for one reason or another never seem to quite fit anywhere else. Yes I could put them up as posts here, but having a Substack just for articles means that, perhaps, hopefully, over time it will become a useful place to develop ideas.
First out of the blocks is an article about the similarities between the abolition of slavery and the rapid phase out of fossil fuels. This emerged from a conversation with Roman Krznaric about his fascinating book History for Tomorrow. This started me thinking about who is expected to pay for not just decommission of fossil fuel infrastructure, but the supposed large-scale removal of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – the result of burning coal, oil, and gas. You can check it out here:
Why carbon capture means we will be paying off fossil fuel companies for centuries The history of the UK’s abolition of slavery holds important lessons about who foots the bill when it comes to righting wrongs.