Andy Rowell

In one of his most controversial decisions so far, President Biden yesterday approved the Willow oil and gas mega-project on the Alaskan North Slope.

We have known for decades now that we must end the disastrous dirty oil age and transition to clean, renewable energy. The wording often used by scientists and activists is that we need a “just transition”. There is where society enables an equitable transition from polluting, undemocratic fossil fuel industries to cleaner community-led renewable technologies.

For anyone in the oil and gas industry, there is only one place to be this week. The great and good of the industry has converged on Houston for CERAWeek, which bills itself as the world’s premier energy event.

This week sees two crucial energy meetings in Japan, a country which remains one of the most prominent financiers of fossil fuels.

Unless we kick dirty money out of politics and put communities and safety first, there will be more railroad disasters. Until then, the people of East Palestine deserve the dignity of the truth and whether their air is safe to breathe and water safe to drink.

It is a gruesome milestone. A year after Russia’s brutal and bloody invasion of Ukraine, the ripples of war have spread across the globe. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, along with over a hundred thousand Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.