Confronting the Consequences of an Extractive Economy July 22, 2021 We are living in a climate emergency. Some might call it a planetary emergency. People are dying from breathing polluted air. The land is on fire. There is even fire in the Gulf of Mexico. If you’re familiar with disaster movies, you know that disaster strikes after science is ignored and that science is necessary to save the day. In real life, as in disaster movies, sometimes there is no perfect solution. Everything comes with a trade-off and difficult decisions must be made. Over a two-year project, scientists with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in collaboration with an external advisory committee of which I am a member, began modelling different scenarios that would decarbonize our economy and help meet climate goals agreed upon by world governments. Unfortunately, because science was ignored for so long, we now face some imperfect decisions. The report resulting from this work highlights alternative pathways and fuel transitions to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.