Gases
Gases or 'Green House Gases' are essays published by Green House Think Tank which explore a particular, usually topical issue or subject.
Climate and Justice
John Foster links climate, justice and morality in a way which readers may not be expecting. He argues that instead of seeing our responsibilities here as obligations of justice, now very much the standard story, we need to contrast them with the kind of obligation which justice imposes on us.
Democratic or Authoritarian Action
How should people respond to the Climate Emergency? This gas is an exchange between Jem Bendell, and John Foster around a critical question of our times: Can democratic action now avert climate and ecological catastrophe and if not, is any form of authoritarian approach ever worth considering?
India’s ‘Green Hydrogen’ project needs critical examination
In this article, first published by The Wire (India), Pritam Singh and Simon Pirani question the Indian government’s approach to the use of “green” hydrogen. There are important parallels with the issues raised in the Green European Foundation’s Greening Hydrogen report published in 2021.
Beyond the Fish Tank
John Foster considers the illuminating thought-experiment and homely but compelling analogy in Dougald Hine's book 'At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics, and All the Other Emergencies'.
Do You Want to Know the Truth?
John Foster reviews Rupert Read's 2022 book, written for all who find themselves confronted, in the stark glare of climate truth, by Lenin’s famous question: what is to be done?
A Climate of Disruption
The inevitable upheaval as the consequence of our regime of accumulation is well and truly upon us. Today, every aspect of our daily lives seem to be unravelling. How can we exist in an age of multiple escalating forms of disruption? Can we envisage ways to work with and through that disruption?
Finance-based transition solutions: approach with caution
Andrew presents the fundamental criticisms made by economists Clive Spash and Frédéric Hache of the influential Dasgupta Review of the economics of biodiversity. Whether or not these criticisms are persuasive, their review points to significant dangers lurking in the financialisation of Nature.
Rethinking consumerism
In this extended review article, John Foster considers some recent thinking on living within limits, and discusses the implications for Green House’s current ‘Rethinking Demand’ project.
Woodhouse Colliery. The Great Carbon Carbuncle?
Ciara Shannon considers some of the carbon risks if Woodhouse Colliery were to go ahead and highlights some alternative opportunities. She ends by thinking about the area's sizeable, historical carbon debt.
Nuclear Power and the contradictions of the UK’s Energy Security Strategy
UK's Energy Security Strategy backs nuclear over greater renewables and energy efficiency. It risks increasing prices and failing to meet future electricity demand. The tools used to make nuclear investor friendly should be used for energy efficiency instead.
The conversation isn’t where we thought it was
XR-UK has released its 2022 strategy As the World Looks Up We Step Up expanding on its 2019 list of demands. Prashant and Peter from Green House Think Tank core group briefly reflect on it's significance.
Stopping fossil fuel extraction – a lockdown approach
Chapman argues we should shift attention from carbon emissions to stopping fossil fuel extraction. The climate crisis requires we stop extraction now, but just as in the lockdowns there were exceptions to the general stay at home rule, there would need to be exceptions to the ban on fossil fuels