Yesterday, the California legislature backed away from doing something historic on climate change because of pressure from the oil industry.  As reported by Reuters:

California’s top Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday they were abandoning a proposal aimed at dramatically reducing the state’s use of fossil fuels, blaming intense lobbying in the final days of the regular legislative session. . . The axed measure would have mandated a 50 percent cut in the use of petroleum in cars and trucks by 2030, a goal [Governor] Jerry Brown and the others said they would continue to support. . . A separate bill, which would have mandated an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from levels emitted in 1990, was also pulled, but the bill’s author, Democratic state Senator Fran Pavley, said she would attempt to revive it before the end of the session.

This is California. Jerry Brown is the Governor there. But even they cannot resist oil industry pressure.

We’re fucked, my friends.

I mean, who doesn’t enjoy cheap gas at the pumps. I recently went to BJ’s and the gas price was $2.19 a gallon. That’s insanely cheap. (That’s 0.51Euros per litre for my European friends.) That’s good for my pocketbook. And terrible for my nieces and nephew, who will eventually be the generation that will really have to deal with climate change.

And their children.

We’re fucked, my friends.

Like a crack addict, we just cannot kick our addiction to cheap fossil fuels.