Welcome back to Drilled, I'm Amy Westervalt.

Today I want to talk about something that has been getting a lot of attention lately and

is kind of rife with misinformation.

That is the environmental impact of the electrify everything movement.

This is something that a lot of climate folks have been really hesitant to talk about

or even have been kind of defensive about because they don't want people talking as though

renewables have the exact same impact as fossil fuels.

Or this idea that they'll be even worse or that they're not an improvement.

All of these are talking points that several folks on the right are starting to push.

We've got Ted Cruz ringing his hands about child labor in cobalt mines.

For example, you've got a lot of pundits who carry water for the fossil fuel industry,

claiming that the land required for both mining and installing renewables, the materials

required, all of that is going to be a bigger environmental problem than drilling for oil.

That is not true.

However, there are definitely impacts and one of the key ways that we can minimize those

impacts is to curb energy consumption across the board.

We are at this moment right now that's very pivotal where the US in particular is trying

to plan out an energy transition.

And instead of going, oh no, electric is great.

We don't need to think about this stuff.

It's actually the perfect time to figure out how to minimize the environmental impact

of our energy system.

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