Metts and Finley-Brook discuss their book “Climate Crisis Energy Violence: Mapping Energy’s Enduring Grasp on a Vulnerable Future”, Episode 4

In this episode, Dr. Mary Finley-Brook and Mr. Stephen Metts discuss their upcoming book, "Climate Crisis - Energy Violence." Finley-Brook and Metts have been studying the intersection of climate crisis - the rapidly changing climate brought on by human activities -- and energy violence -- the damage being done to our environment by a variety of malevolent human activities including the extraction of oil and natural gas for use in our powering our petroleum-centric world.

This episode covers a wide range of issues and questions including:

• How do we address proximity issues (how close extractive industries are to urban populations) and social justice issues?

• They discuss the Millenium Pipeline and its impact on nearby residents in the Hudson Valley area

• They discuss the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) and its impact . . . both Finley-Brook and Metts worked to defeat this pipeline

• Greenwashing and environmental illiteracy

• Methane literacy

• FERC and environmental racism

• FERC's propensity to "rubber stamp" approving pipelines (a 99% approval rate!)

• Erosion and biodiversity

• The gaps in the regulatory system with respect to the environmental and climate impacts of pipelines (specifically around space and infrastructure; point source polluters in an urban environment)

• The definition of environmental justice in urban and rural environments

• The conflicts between state and federal governments over the impact of pipeline installations

• The conflict of interest in having the fossil fuel industry define "best practices" with respect to a variety of development standards

• The problem with carbon capture: does it really work and is it affordable?

Dr. Auch is a Board member of FaCT, the Faith Communities Together for a Sustainable Future. Dr. Auch is also a professor at Cleveland State University, where he teaches Global Biogeochemistry and Soil Science.