{"id":371395,"date":"2026-04-09T15:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/371395\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:26:17","slug":"i-was-a-climate-activist-heres-why-net-zero-leads-to-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/371395\/","title":{"rendered":"I Was a Climate Activist. Here\u2019s Why Net-Zero Leads to Disaster."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It appears Cuba has reached net-zero carbon emissions faster than any other country in the world. The transition is complete with blackouts, economic collapse, and widespread despair. Ten years ago, this is something I would have championed.<\/p>\n<p>Back then I was in my 20s, working as a climate journalist and influencer. I covered pipeline protests, pushed the Green New Deal, and repeated slogans like \u201cJust stop oil\u201d and \u201cKeep it in the ground.\u201d I believed I was on the right side of history, fighting against the climate crisis, and for a more just and equitable world.<\/p>\n<p>Now as I watch Cuba suffer from its lack of Venezuelan oil, and see the panic over the Strait of Hormuz, I\u2019m reminded of the importance of oil and why despite spending <a href=\"https:\/\/about.bnef.com\/insights\/clean-energy\/bloombergnef-finds-global-energy-transition-investment-reached-record-2-3-trillion-in-2025-up-8-from-2024\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">trillions of dollars<\/a> in an attempt to transition to renewables, oil, coal, and natural gas still produce <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energyinst.org\/statistical-review\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">86 percent<\/a> of the energy consumed around the world.<\/p>\n<p>You might read this and think: Well, obviously fossil fuels are irreplaceable. But I can tell you from experience that is not how young people in the climate movement think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It appears Cuba has reached net-zero carbon emissions faster than any other country in the world. The transition&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-371395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}