"The battle of the energy titans comes down to one great contest: nuclear vs. coal."

[GliderGuider]

20. It's not just electricity, it's all energy including fuels.

Let's say that we wish to create a civilization that is sustainable over the long haul (say the next 5,000 years and more), maintains most other life on the planet, avoids a major anthropogenic extinction event and halts the one that is already under way.

I've concluded that if this is to be possible we will need to reduce our energy consumption, our material consumption, our numbers and our overall activity levels by 85% over the next century. In order to do that, the events of the next few decades will be critical. To get onto that path, we have no more than 20 years cut global oil, gas and coal use by 25% and set ourselves on a controlled decline. If we do not manage that shift, all bets are off, for all life.

This is not a parochial political problem that can be fobbed off on "Republicans". 10% solutions don't address the planetary issue. People realize this intuitively, which is the main reason the COP meetings are dying a whimpering death in the corner of the global mud-room.