CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Vampire Planet: This Week in the Anthropocene

A fresh snow in Montana, but not enough. Photo by Joshua Frank.

Let’s start with the good news. As of 2025, coal is no longer the dominant energy source worldwide. It’s been at the top for over 100 years, but it’s been edged out by renewables, driven mainly by China’s solar boom.

Now, the reality. Despite this surge in renewables, the world saw a record increase in carbon emissions last year. That’s because fossil fuels are still being burned in record numbers across sectors beyond energy, such as transportation, which accounts for nearly 30% of global fossil fuel consumption. Not everyone is keen on large-scale industrial solar projects like China’s, either. A ProPublica report details a brewing battle in Michigan over solar plantations.

Sorry for the bummer news, but here’s more on renewables: we need so much copper for the energy transition that an old, dormant mine in Utah has reopened. A recent study found that, in the worst-case scenario (which is on the path we’re on), we’ll need 373 new copper mines by 2050 to keep up with demand. Oh, and that Utah mine will be supplemented by robot miners.

So much for the promise of jobs, given all the mines that will be needed for lithium, uranium, cobalt, and other critical minerals for batteries and fuel for nuclear plants. AI technophiles are hoping to automate the entire industry. Speaking of uranium, don’t miss Bill Hatch’s excellent piece in these pages this week on uranium-mining speculators haunting the Navajo Nation. In other mining news, environmental groups in Oregon filed a lawsuit to stop........

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