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The Carbon Bubble: What Happens to Us When It Bursts
For the first time at book length, bestselling author and economist Jeff Rubin addresses Canada's national economic future--and the financial security of all Canadians.
Since 2006 and the election of the 1st Harper government, the vision of Canada's future as an energy superpower has driven the political agenda, as well as the fast-paced development of Alberta's oil sands and the push for more pipelines across the country to bring that bitumen to market. Anyone who objects is labeled a dreamer, or worse--an someone who puts the health of the planet ahead of the economic survival of their neighbours.
In The Carbon Bubble , Jeff Rubin compellingly shows how Harper's economic vision for the country is dead wrong. Changes in energy markets in the US--where domestic production is booming while demand for oil is shrinking--are quickly turning Harper's dream into an economic nightmare. The same trade and investment ties to oil that pushed the Canadian dollar to record highs are now pulling it down, and the Toronto Stock Exchange, one of the most carbon-intensive stock indexes in the world--with over 25 percent market capitalization in oil and gas alone--will be increasingly exposed to the rest of the world's efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
Rubin argues that there is a lifeline to a better future. The very climate change that will leave much of the country's carbon unburnable could at the same time make some of Canada's other resource assets more our water and our land. In tomorrow's economy, he argues, Canada won't be an energy superpower, but it has the makings of one of the world's great breadbaskets. And in the global climate that the world's carbon emissions are inexorably creating, food will soon be a lot more valuable than oil.
Since 2006 and the election of the 1st Harper government, the vision of Canada's future as an energy superpower has driven the political agenda, as well as the fast-paced development of Alberta's oil sands and the push for more pipelines across the country to bring that bitumen to market. Anyone who objects is labeled a dreamer, or worse--an someone who puts the health of the planet ahead of the economic survival of their neighbours.
In The Carbon Bubble , Jeff Rubin compellingly shows how Harper's economic vision for the country is dead wrong. Changes in energy markets in the US--where domestic production is booming while demand for oil is shrinking--are quickly turning Harper's dream into an economic nightmare. The same trade and investment ties to oil that pushed the Canadian dollar to record highs are now pulling it down, and the Toronto Stock Exchange, one of the most carbon-intensive stock indexes in the world--with over 25 percent market capitalization in oil and gas alone--will be increasingly exposed to the rest of the world's efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
Rubin argues that there is a lifeline to a better future. The very climate change that will leave much of the country's carbon unburnable could at the same time make some of Canada's other resource assets more our water and our land. In tomorrow's economy, he argues, Canada won't be an energy superpower, but it has the makings of one of the world's great breadbaskets. And in the global climate that the world's carbon emissions are inexorably creating, food will soon be a lot more valuable than oil.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2015
11 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Rubin
15 books44 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 20, 2015
This book would make a great gift for anyone who still does not beleive in Climate change. Jeff writes so clearly even Steven Harper would understand it.
December 14, 2015
If you live on planet earth, more particularly in Canada… you should read this book. If you have investments in the TSX, interested in politics or the environment.. again, you should read this book.
The Carbon Bubble is divided into four parts, each contributing to a logical conclusion. The book dives headfirst into the problems with Steven Harper’s plans for Canada to become an energy superpower.
The first part of the book had me seething mad and completely frustrated with Canadian politics. The second part was highly informative and complimented the previous part very well. Then In the third part, I struggled getting through. I found some of the writing redundant. After getting through the third part, I sailed through the fourth part and was on to the conclusion.
The book is chalk full of facts and information pertaining to politics, the environment and the carbon industry. Even with all these intense facts and information, the writing is accessible and clear. I even found the source notes interesting !!
I’m glad I read this book. It has made me look at the world around me in a different way. I normally don’t follow politics but in today’s world, this book is an important read. Having almost finished the book when the elections were being held in Alberta, I wasn’t at all surprised by the results.
If Canada wants a superpower title, there are other ways to do it and even more importantly… better for the environment. Jeff Rubin offers up a multitude of ways to do it as we face climate change, but we have to be ready… we must plan.
The Carbon Bubble is divided into four parts, each contributing to a logical conclusion. The book dives headfirst into the problems with Steven Harper’s plans for Canada to become an energy superpower.
The first part of the book had me seething mad and completely frustrated with Canadian politics. The second part was highly informative and complimented the previous part very well. Then In the third part, I struggled getting through. I found some of the writing redundant. After getting through the third part, I sailed through the fourth part and was on to the conclusion.
The book is chalk full of facts and information pertaining to politics, the environment and the carbon industry. Even with all these intense facts and information, the writing is accessible and clear. I even found the source notes interesting !!
I’m glad I read this book. It has made me look at the world around me in a different way. I normally don’t follow politics but in today’s world, this book is an important read. Having almost finished the book when the elections were being held in Alberta, I wasn’t at all surprised by the results.
If Canada wants a superpower title, there are other ways to do it and even more importantly… better for the environment. Jeff Rubin offers up a multitude of ways to do it as we face climate change, but we have to be ready… we must plan.
November 26, 2023
Great coverage of Canada's resources sector, challenges and opportunities it presents in the context of climate change taking place.
July 22, 2024
This has to be one of the worst books I have read. I previously was a Jeff Rubin fan however this book completely contradicts his previous ones. Before he raved about peak oil, now he is saying we have so much oil prices will be too low for Canadian oil sands producers to be profitable. He really knows nothing about the oil industry but continues to write about it like he is an expert. Let’s just say this book does not age well and the fear tactics he uses to convince readers of his position all fail to come to fruition in the future. Would give it a zero star if I could. Jeff Rubin should thank Alberta for funding the rest of the country’s dead beat provinces rather than say Alberta is the issue.
“At the time of writing this there is only one commercial-scale coal-fired power plant in the world with capture and storage capacity, and it happens to be in Saskatchewan. As it turns out, CO2 captured from SaskPower’s Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant will be used, through the process knows as enhanced oil recovery (EOR), to pump out otherwise unrecoverable oil from a nearby Cenovus Energy property. Without enhanced oil recovery or massive public subsidies, carbon capture and sequestration does not make financial sense.”
“Currently, hydro accounts for 15 percent of the world power generation, but in some places, like Brazil, it provides almost 80 percent of the country’s power needs.”
“The rate of economic growth, it seems, is a lot more important in determining our emissions levels than any policy choices we have made about energy use. If, for example, a country wants to hold its carbon emissions constant over time, it must decarbonize at the same pace that it is growing.”
“It is worth noting that the IMF and others who advocate higher carbon taxes are also calling for equivalent income tax cuts. In effect, the call to raise carbon taxes is a call to shift the tax base from income to carbon emissions. If you actually cut back on your fuel consumption – which is what carbon taxes are intended to encourage – the accompanying income tax cuts would in fact leave you with more disposable income to spend on anything.”
“In 1858 – a full year before colonel Drake drilled his first will in Titusville, Pennsylvania – oil was flowing from wells drilling in Oil Springs, Ontario. Some of those wells, like Charlie’s are still producing over 150 years later.”
“In 1947, Imperial Oil his a big gusher at the Leduc Well, just south of Edmonton, and the focus of Canada’s oil industry subsequently shifted to Alberta’s Western Canadian Sedimentary which quickly became the mainstay of the country’s oil production.”
“Diluents, as they are referred to in the industry, make up about 30 percent of the mixture that allows bitumen to flow through a pipeline.”
“In the 1970s, Canada had forty refineries; today, the total is nineteen. For all the billions invested in soaring production, there has not been a single new refinery built in this country since 1984. The three refineries that are designed for oil sands feedstock – The Suncor refinery, also in Edmonton, the Shell refinery in Scotford and the Husky refinery in Lloydminster – have a combined capacity of 270,300 barrels per day. When all three are running at peak capacity only 13 percent of oil sands production can be refined in Alberta.”
“In June 2012, the average household income in “the Mac” (or Fort McMoney, as it is also know) was about $180,000, and the unemployment rate was 4 percent.”
“Fuelled by the boom in its oil sands development, Alberta led the country in growth for more than a decade. It cut itself an increasingly larger slice of the national economic pie, and now sits at 17 percent of Canada’s GDP – a four-percentage-point increase over 2002 figures and its greatest share of the Canadian economy in the postwar period.”
“The oil sands may account for only 2 percent of Canada’s GDP, but the sector dominates where it counts for the currency – in the country’s trade and capital flows. From a trough of 61 cents in 2002, the loonie rose to a record peak of $1.10 by 2007 – an astonishing 80 percent appreciation against the US dollar, the currency of the country that had adsorbed more than three-quarters of Canada’s merchandise exports.”
“Neither China nor the United States signed the Kyoto accord – a pretty large omission considering they are the world’s largest users of coal and emitters of CO2. Together, they accounted for 42 percent of global emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels.”
“Mean Reversion – a financial theory based on the belief that fluctuating values will over time return to an underlying average value.”
“PetroChina completed a deal for Athabasca Oil Sands for around $2.5 billion, and in 2010 Sinopec paid $4.65 billion for a 9 percent share in Syncrude, which runs Alberta’s largest oil sands mine. But is 2012, China’s National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) dramatically upped the ante, making a huge $15.1 billion offer to buy Nexen, one of the larger Canadian oil sands producers, lock, stock, and barrel.”
“Before the late finance minister Jim Flaherty nuked them in 2006, income trusts were the hottest things going in Alberta’s oil and gas patch. Income trusts were the latest version of what was known in the financial world as flow-through shares. Instead of companies retaining their earnings and paying corporate tax on them, they would instead distribute them to their unitholders, who in turn would pay personal tax on the distributions received from the trust.”
“Canada has been identified as one of only 5 out of 163 countries that have all the requisite characteristics to significantly boost agriculture production in the future.”
“Historical records indicate that spring is already twenty-six days earlier in Alberta than it was half a century ago, and warmer autumns point to a growing season that will be anywhere from 25 to 40 percent longer than the average from 1961 to 1990.”
“The imperial valley is a half-million-acre oasis in the middle of the enormous desert that rises in Mexico and spills across the boarder into Arizona and California. The region supplies 80-percent of North America’s fresh vegetables during the winter.”
“It takes a whopping 1,500 liters of water to grow a kilogram of wheat on the Canadian Prairies.”
“Canada has somewhere between 7 and 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply. The higher estimate refers to total freshwater resources, including the water from frozen in glaciers and icefields as well as so-called fossil water in lakes and underground aquifers. The lower estimate refers to the country’s far more accessible share of the world’s renewable fresh water that is replenished through precipitation.”
“If you want to invest in a sector with pricing power, food should be high on your shipping list. And climate change is likely to push it even higher.”
“At the time of writing this there is only one commercial-scale coal-fired power plant in the world with capture and storage capacity, and it happens to be in Saskatchewan. As it turns out, CO2 captured from SaskPower’s Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant will be used, through the process knows as enhanced oil recovery (EOR), to pump out otherwise unrecoverable oil from a nearby Cenovus Energy property. Without enhanced oil recovery or massive public subsidies, carbon capture and sequestration does not make financial sense.”
“Currently, hydro accounts for 15 percent of the world power generation, but in some places, like Brazil, it provides almost 80 percent of the country’s power needs.”
“The rate of economic growth, it seems, is a lot more important in determining our emissions levels than any policy choices we have made about energy use. If, for example, a country wants to hold its carbon emissions constant over time, it must decarbonize at the same pace that it is growing.”
“It is worth noting that the IMF and others who advocate higher carbon taxes are also calling for equivalent income tax cuts. In effect, the call to raise carbon taxes is a call to shift the tax base from income to carbon emissions. If you actually cut back on your fuel consumption – which is what carbon taxes are intended to encourage – the accompanying income tax cuts would in fact leave you with more disposable income to spend on anything.”
“In 1858 – a full year before colonel Drake drilled his first will in Titusville, Pennsylvania – oil was flowing from wells drilling in Oil Springs, Ontario. Some of those wells, like Charlie’s are still producing over 150 years later.”
“In 1947, Imperial Oil his a big gusher at the Leduc Well, just south of Edmonton, and the focus of Canada’s oil industry subsequently shifted to Alberta’s Western Canadian Sedimentary which quickly became the mainstay of the country’s oil production.”
“Diluents, as they are referred to in the industry, make up about 30 percent of the mixture that allows bitumen to flow through a pipeline.”
“In the 1970s, Canada had forty refineries; today, the total is nineteen. For all the billions invested in soaring production, there has not been a single new refinery built in this country since 1984. The three refineries that are designed for oil sands feedstock – The Suncor refinery, also in Edmonton, the Shell refinery in Scotford and the Husky refinery in Lloydminster – have a combined capacity of 270,300 barrels per day. When all three are running at peak capacity only 13 percent of oil sands production can be refined in Alberta.”
“In June 2012, the average household income in “the Mac” (or Fort McMoney, as it is also know) was about $180,000, and the unemployment rate was 4 percent.”
“Fuelled by the boom in its oil sands development, Alberta led the country in growth for more than a decade. It cut itself an increasingly larger slice of the national economic pie, and now sits at 17 percent of Canada’s GDP – a four-percentage-point increase over 2002 figures and its greatest share of the Canadian economy in the postwar period.”
“The oil sands may account for only 2 percent of Canada’s GDP, but the sector dominates where it counts for the currency – in the country’s trade and capital flows. From a trough of 61 cents in 2002, the loonie rose to a record peak of $1.10 by 2007 – an astonishing 80 percent appreciation against the US dollar, the currency of the country that had adsorbed more than three-quarters of Canada’s merchandise exports.”
“Neither China nor the United States signed the Kyoto accord – a pretty large omission considering they are the world’s largest users of coal and emitters of CO2. Together, they accounted for 42 percent of global emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels.”
“Mean Reversion – a financial theory based on the belief that fluctuating values will over time return to an underlying average value.”
“PetroChina completed a deal for Athabasca Oil Sands for around $2.5 billion, and in 2010 Sinopec paid $4.65 billion for a 9 percent share in Syncrude, which runs Alberta’s largest oil sands mine. But is 2012, China’s National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) dramatically upped the ante, making a huge $15.1 billion offer to buy Nexen, one of the larger Canadian oil sands producers, lock, stock, and barrel.”
“Before the late finance minister Jim Flaherty nuked them in 2006, income trusts were the hottest things going in Alberta’s oil and gas patch. Income trusts were the latest version of what was known in the financial world as flow-through shares. Instead of companies retaining their earnings and paying corporate tax on them, they would instead distribute them to their unitholders, who in turn would pay personal tax on the distributions received from the trust.”
“Canada has been identified as one of only 5 out of 163 countries that have all the requisite characteristics to significantly boost agriculture production in the future.”
“Historical records indicate that spring is already twenty-six days earlier in Alberta than it was half a century ago, and warmer autumns point to a growing season that will be anywhere from 25 to 40 percent longer than the average from 1961 to 1990.”
“The imperial valley is a half-million-acre oasis in the middle of the enormous desert that rises in Mexico and spills across the boarder into Arizona and California. The region supplies 80-percent of North America’s fresh vegetables during the winter.”
“It takes a whopping 1,500 liters of water to grow a kilogram of wheat on the Canadian Prairies.”
“Canada has somewhere between 7 and 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply. The higher estimate refers to total freshwater resources, including the water from frozen in glaciers and icefields as well as so-called fossil water in lakes and underground aquifers. The lower estimate refers to the country’s far more accessible share of the world’s renewable fresh water that is replenished through precipitation.”
“If you want to invest in a sector with pricing power, food should be high on your shipping list. And climate change is likely to push it even higher.”
February 17, 2016
Really interesting book on the carbon economy, and Alberta's tar sands in specific. This isn't a book to convince people that global warming is real, it takes that as a given and assumes governments will eventually regulate emissions they way they are beginning to with coal, etc. That, along with cheaper-to-produce shale gas will gut the price of oil, keeping it at a level that makes bitumen processing in Alberta unprofitable.
He tries to extrapolate what lower oil prices and higher food prices will make economies like over the next few decades. The optimistic scenario for Canada is that our vast supplies of fresh water and arable land are going to make farming more and more important.
He tries to extrapolate what lower oil prices and higher food prices will make economies like over the next few decades. The optimistic scenario for Canada is that our vast supplies of fresh water and arable land are going to make farming more and more important.
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January 23, 2023For a very long time I have learned from the role models in my life that climate change is a real, and dangerous reaction to the fossil fuels being burned each day. Jeff Rubin wrote "The Carbon Bubble" to share his idea that instead of using harmful fossil fuels for power, oil companies can switch to more environmentally friendly sources of energy. The book is split into four parts, each contributing to his thoughtful conclusion. The first part of the book makes the reader mad at the decisions made by the Harper government beginning in 2006. Following the enticing first part is a descriptive, data-focused second part that orients the reader into understanding the problem with energy projects in Canada’s west. The third part speaks about Alberta and how aspects of its provincial government make it easier to reap the rewards of the natural resources. An example of that is how Alberta does not enforce its own provincial sales tax. The fourth part brings together all the information talked about in the first three parts and forms a well thought out conclusion and possible ways to move forward economically and socially regarding Canada’s constant need to increase the value of its dollar.
The book was futuristic and informational. Rubin thoroughly explains the data that he uses to support his conclusion. He uses data from after 2006 to show his comprehension of each discussed topic so that the reader can understand how he came to his conclusion. Rubin shows his knowledge about carbon emissions by using precise units of measurement recorded in several reliable studies. He makes accurate predictions based off the data he researches. I was surprised to notice his accuracy about supertankers spilling large amounts of oil into the environment.
Something I did not like about the book was the large amount of data reused over and over to reinforce the conclusion. This was especially difficult to read during the second and third parts of the book filled with condensed information. There were other ways he could have structured those parts differently so that the reader would want to follow along eagerly.
The Carbon Bubble taught me about Harper’s plan to make Canada an energy powerhouse, how Obama successfully kept the Keystone XL pipeline from being built across the United States. I learned that there is approximately 20 years left of carbon burning before the damage is irreversible, and that some large oil corporations put profit above the safety of the public. It taught me that there are alternative options for Alberta to make profit than through oil.
The information in this book can change the way people view climate activism and daily ways to improve the environment. The message conveyed may be overlooked due to the monotony of its structure, but nevertheless, the topic is extremely important in today's society.
This quote from the book has the power to inspire people into believing they can, indeed, make a difference: “In the war against emissions, there are no quick fixes, and no short-cuts.” It is something many people need to hear to fully grasp the reality of our planet’s fuel usage. This quote inspires me to do more for the planet, and inspiration is something we all need more of to change the world around us.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is remotely interested in politics or economic interactions between North American countries and how they contribute to the increase in worldwide carbon emissions. Even someone slightly interested in how politics can affect trade and stock market fluctuation in different countries would be fascinated by this book. I did not know the amount of effort needed to increase the value of a country’s currency before I read this book, and anyone curious to how that would happen can learn from the writing of Jeff Rubin.
The book was futuristic and informational. Rubin thoroughly explains the data that he uses to support his conclusion. He uses data from after 2006 to show his comprehension of each discussed topic so that the reader can understand how he came to his conclusion. Rubin shows his knowledge about carbon emissions by using precise units of measurement recorded in several reliable studies. He makes accurate predictions based off the data he researches. I was surprised to notice his accuracy about supertankers spilling large amounts of oil into the environment.
Something I did not like about the book was the large amount of data reused over and over to reinforce the conclusion. This was especially difficult to read during the second and third parts of the book filled with condensed information. There were other ways he could have structured those parts differently so that the reader would want to follow along eagerly.
The Carbon Bubble taught me about Harper’s plan to make Canada an energy powerhouse, how Obama successfully kept the Keystone XL pipeline from being built across the United States. I learned that there is approximately 20 years left of carbon burning before the damage is irreversible, and that some large oil corporations put profit above the safety of the public. It taught me that there are alternative options for Alberta to make profit than through oil.
The information in this book can change the way people view climate activism and daily ways to improve the environment. The message conveyed may be overlooked due to the monotony of its structure, but nevertheless, the topic is extremely important in today's society.
This quote from the book has the power to inspire people into believing they can, indeed, make a difference: “In the war against emissions, there are no quick fixes, and no short-cuts.” It is something many people need to hear to fully grasp the reality of our planet’s fuel usage. This quote inspires me to do more for the planet, and inspiration is something we all need more of to change the world around us.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is remotely interested in politics or economic interactions between North American countries and how they contribute to the increase in worldwide carbon emissions. Even someone slightly interested in how politics can affect trade and stock market fluctuation in different countries would be fascinated by this book. I did not know the amount of effort needed to increase the value of a country’s currency before I read this book, and anyone curious to how that would happen can learn from the writing of Jeff Rubin.
January 24, 2023
The Carbon Bubble is a straightforward and informative book on climate change from an economic perspective. It discusses how we are all affected because everything is built off of carbon emissions. Things such as politics, government taxes, wages and the costs of living is something everyone has to deal with and they are dependent on the state of the climate. The author, Jeff Rubin, is an economist in Canada. He gives a view on how Climate change primarily, is affecting Canada as well as how Canada’s climate crisis is affecting other countries around the world.
One major take away from the book is that the economy heavily relies on the well being of the planet. Taxes now are more based on carbon, gas prices keep going up, and widely used plastic products are being banned, all to reduce emissions while also keeping the economy at bay. Considering where everyone is in the world as of right now, we may not see drastic improvements right away. Another thing the book mentions is that when the economy fluctuates, so do emissions. A recent example would be the COVID 19 pandemic that kept all of us inside with nothing to do. At this time the economy was at a very low point because no one was buying things in person, people were losing their jobs, and cars and public transit were rarely being used. This put a pause and eventually set us back a bit in our growing economy but it helped with emissions a lot. Global emissions decreased by almost 2 billion tonnes in 2020 alone making it the largest decline in history. This was all due to the reduced use in everyday transportation.
As a person who primarily reads fiction, I found it quite difficult to read this book due to the amount of information expressed between the pages. It was a lot of story to take in all at once while also having no plot or characters making it harder to understand and find connections. I think that if the book was a bit longer the point would have gotten across better without feeling rushed or condensed. Although, I liked how the book touched on how climate change and the economic state of the world has affected the middle and lower social classes. I would say the cost of sustainability affects them the most because eco-friendly products tend to be more expensive and a family living comfortably off of regular items made from plastic for example, is more of a priority than the well-being of the planet.
This book would often talk about carbon emission goals countries had set to achieve by 2020-2025. In 2015, Barack Obama wanted to cut emissions in the US by 25% by 2025 which could be a bit of a stretch considering the overall decrease of emissions by the US has only been 7.3% in the last 30 years. An overall goal from the book was to make carbon emissions decline while making gross domestic product (GDP) increase. This benefits both our climate and economy by encouraging people to make money so that emissions can decrease.
A quote I thought was important from the book was “bubbles aren’t built to last. As they float ever higher in the sunlight, they inevitably pop. In a flash—poof!—they are gone.” (p.3) I thought that it was referring to how the hole in the ozone layer was like a bubble popping. This hole lets ultraviolet rays into the atmosphere, warming the planet and melting ice caps in the Antarctic.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in politics and the economy. Both aspects are quite prominent in the book because they both heavily rely on the state of our climate in order to thrive. Reading this book would be a good way to get ahead of our system right now. Young people are now being educated on the effects of climate change rather than the older generations who are controlling the political and economic scene.
One major take away from the book is that the economy heavily relies on the well being of the planet. Taxes now are more based on carbon, gas prices keep going up, and widely used plastic products are being banned, all to reduce emissions while also keeping the economy at bay. Considering where everyone is in the world as of right now, we may not see drastic improvements right away. Another thing the book mentions is that when the economy fluctuates, so do emissions. A recent example would be the COVID 19 pandemic that kept all of us inside with nothing to do. At this time the economy was at a very low point because no one was buying things in person, people were losing their jobs, and cars and public transit were rarely being used. This put a pause and eventually set us back a bit in our growing economy but it helped with emissions a lot. Global emissions decreased by almost 2 billion tonnes in 2020 alone making it the largest decline in history. This was all due to the reduced use in everyday transportation.
As a person who primarily reads fiction, I found it quite difficult to read this book due to the amount of information expressed between the pages. It was a lot of story to take in all at once while also having no plot or characters making it harder to understand and find connections. I think that if the book was a bit longer the point would have gotten across better without feeling rushed or condensed. Although, I liked how the book touched on how climate change and the economic state of the world has affected the middle and lower social classes. I would say the cost of sustainability affects them the most because eco-friendly products tend to be more expensive and a family living comfortably off of regular items made from plastic for example, is more of a priority than the well-being of the planet.
This book would often talk about carbon emission goals countries had set to achieve by 2020-2025. In 2015, Barack Obama wanted to cut emissions in the US by 25% by 2025 which could be a bit of a stretch considering the overall decrease of emissions by the US has only been 7.3% in the last 30 years. An overall goal from the book was to make carbon emissions decline while making gross domestic product (GDP) increase. This benefits both our climate and economy by encouraging people to make money so that emissions can decrease.
A quote I thought was important from the book was “bubbles aren’t built to last. As they float ever higher in the sunlight, they inevitably pop. In a flash—poof!—they are gone.” (p.3) I thought that it was referring to how the hole in the ozone layer was like a bubble popping. This hole lets ultraviolet rays into the atmosphere, warming the planet and melting ice caps in the Antarctic.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in politics and the economy. Both aspects are quite prominent in the book because they both heavily rely on the state of our climate in order to thrive. Reading this book would be a good way to get ahead of our system right now. Young people are now being educated on the effects of climate change rather than the older generations who are controlling the political and economic scene.
May 27, 2017
Full disclosure, I had to stop reading this book about a third of the way through. I've read other books written by Jeff Rubin and found them to be highly informative and thought provoking. Unfortunately this book did not follow that same pattern.
I found the credibility of the information jaded by the constant blaming and bashing of the previous Conservative Harper government in Canada. The over zealous injection of political leanings in a book that is not meant to be about politics always drives me away from a book.
It's a shame that the author chose to take this approach as the premise behind the book is important.
Sadly, this will be the last book I attempt to read written by this author.
I found the credibility of the information jaded by the constant blaming and bashing of the previous Conservative Harper government in Canada. The over zealous injection of political leanings in a book that is not meant to be about politics always drives me away from a book.
It's a shame that the author chose to take this approach as the premise behind the book is important.
Sadly, this will be the last book I attempt to read written by this author.
July 16, 2017
This is a thought-provoking book. I didn't agree with everything he concludes, and there's a bit too much political commentary, but for the most part, I think he's identified some major trends. The book is written in an easy-to-read journalistic style, and not particularly rigorous in its analysis. There are some speculation and some leaps in logic. That being said, I don't think he's wrong about the direction of the industry and the economy, and it's a book worth reading if you're thinking about how changes in the oil industry are going to affect the Canadian economy.
May 1, 2018
I should have read the full synopsis before starting this one. Not only is the title, The Carbon Bubble, terribly misleading, it should have just been renamed altogether; you’d think that all this talk of carbon would not be limited to the first 80 pages. And have the rest of the book to be a lecture on currency, history, and the promises of the Stephen Harper administration. If this book was not solely based and researched on Alberta’s economy and geography, I don’t think I would have bothered to finish.
October 13, 2020
A fun, practical look back at Canada's economy and it's ties to carbon, with some emphasis on the Harper period, but looking forward towards the future as well, especially regarding policy decisions.
I definitely enjoyed reading the book, but had difficulty looking back and remembering what I had read afterwards (maybe it made too much sense). Anyone planning on running or voting federally might want to consider reading this.
I would rate this about 3.5...so I'm rounding up to four.
I definitely enjoyed reading the book, but had difficulty looking back and remembering what I had read afterwards (maybe it made too much sense). Anyone planning on running or voting federally might want to consider reading this.
I would rate this about 3.5...so I'm rounding up to four.
February 25, 2020
This is a book all Canadians, especially all Albertans, should read. While the book came out several years ago, the premise has held up remarkably well.
It ends on a hopeful note that we can shift our economy to more stable footing, when you remember when it was published, you feel disappointed at the wasted time as we haven't really shifted out thinking as a country and province.
It ends on a hopeful note that we can shift our economy to more stable footing, when you remember when it was published, you feel disappointed at the wasted time as we haven't really shifted out thinking as a country and province.
August 15, 2020
Easy to read, well organized, objective and relating climate change to economic issues and the political choices in Canada up to the last Harper government.
August 23, 2020
If you have read his other books this should be fairly predictable. Farming and water are the new big hoe
Pea
Pea
August 8, 2015
Author Jeff Rubin spent most of his career as an economist with a big Canadian brokerage firm. As I read his book, at the request of a friend, I kept recalling investor Peter Lynch's observation that economists had successfully predicted 24 of the last 19 economic recessions. Predictions are hard, but that doesn't daunt Jeff Rubin.
Rubin, who is an entertaining, folksy writer, does some solid work describing the high costs and transportation challenges facing Canada's landlocked oil and gas industry. He helpfully describes the ominous implications of the USA having allowed so many people to settle in the arid American southwest, where water tables are falling. Unfortunately, his predictions and solutions are unconvincing, as they are built on a weak foundation of dubious premises.
The long term price of a commodity should approximate the cost to get it out of the ground, which for oil production varies greatly worldwide but is likely above $75 per barrel. The longer oil stays below that price, the more it is likely it is to snap back above it, unless there are cheaper substitutes. Those substitutes simply do not exist today, especially for transportation.
Rubin believes that fear of catastrophic warming will galvanize governments to impose higher taxes on carbon, which he thinks will crush oil demand and permanently depress oil prices. He points to the Obama/China deal on greenhouse gases as evidence that even ruthless despoiler China has bought the hype on climate change. In fact, that deal has such long range deadlines as to put zero constraint on China. We'll be dead by then and that deal was another Obama photo opportunity.
The author also yearns for a return to the glory days of Ontario and Quebec leading the Canadian economy. He hammers Prime Minister Harper for failing to jump on the climate change bandwagon. He underplays the value of Alberta's boom years to the Canadian economy and makes no mention of Alberta's disproportionate funding of federal equalization programs.
Rubin appears completely unaware that the warming so long predicted by his beloved warmists has emphatically not happened, for over 18 years and counting. He doesn't know that global CO2 concentrations were much higher in the past than today and doesn't acknowledge that Canada's contribution to said concentrations are minuscule, nor that the consumption of hydrocarbons is a much more important source of CO2 emissions than their production. For Rubin, the carbon sky is falling. That is his main premise.
I think Rubin is correct that a high cost basin like Alberta can be a dicey place to invest in oil and gas. He may be right about food prices escalating. I just don't think he's made the right call on oil or on climate change.
Rubin, who is an entertaining, folksy writer, does some solid work describing the high costs and transportation challenges facing Canada's landlocked oil and gas industry. He helpfully describes the ominous implications of the USA having allowed so many people to settle in the arid American southwest, where water tables are falling. Unfortunately, his predictions and solutions are unconvincing, as they are built on a weak foundation of dubious premises.
The long term price of a commodity should approximate the cost to get it out of the ground, which for oil production varies greatly worldwide but is likely above $75 per barrel. The longer oil stays below that price, the more it is likely it is to snap back above it, unless there are cheaper substitutes. Those substitutes simply do not exist today, especially for transportation.
Rubin believes that fear of catastrophic warming will galvanize governments to impose higher taxes on carbon, which he thinks will crush oil demand and permanently depress oil prices. He points to the Obama/China deal on greenhouse gases as evidence that even ruthless despoiler China has bought the hype on climate change. In fact, that deal has such long range deadlines as to put zero constraint on China. We'll be dead by then and that deal was another Obama photo opportunity.
The author also yearns for a return to the glory days of Ontario and Quebec leading the Canadian economy. He hammers Prime Minister Harper for failing to jump on the climate change bandwagon. He underplays the value of Alberta's boom years to the Canadian economy and makes no mention of Alberta's disproportionate funding of federal equalization programs.
Rubin appears completely unaware that the warming so long predicted by his beloved warmists has emphatically not happened, for over 18 years and counting. He doesn't know that global CO2 concentrations were much higher in the past than today and doesn't acknowledge that Canada's contribution to said concentrations are minuscule, nor that the consumption of hydrocarbons is a much more important source of CO2 emissions than their production. For Rubin, the carbon sky is falling. That is his main premise.
I think Rubin is correct that a high cost basin like Alberta can be a dicey place to invest in oil and gas. He may be right about food prices escalating. I just don't think he's made the right call on oil or on climate change.
December 15, 2015
Jeff Rubin’s The Carbon Bubble deals with the notorious greenhouse effect under our “waning golden age of fossil fuels”. He aims the spearheads at two parties: the oil sands and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for elevated carbon emissions. Rubin argues that global upheaval pertains to the detrimental effects of climate change. The Carbon Bubble conveys Jeff Rubin’s ultimate message: Humanity will be forced to shift off fossil fuel consumptions.
The Carbon Bubble is a well-rounded book. The book demonstrates a great balance of theories and facts. Rubin predicts future effects of climate change and retains credibility from statistics. He utilizes a wide range of databases, including ideas that oppose his argument. Instead of avoiding, Rubin outlines counter-arguments that further strengthen his thesis. Through this, Rubin’s firm writing style is plausible. He’s unbiased and relies on solid facts to support his thesis.
Jeff Rubin’s The Carbon Bubble will interest readers that follow environmental issues. It’ll further appeal to those that seek new perspectives upon a controversial topic. Instead of presenting the cliché argument, Rubin surprises readers with an alternate lens. He posits a world, in which climate change will kill the demand for high-carbon fossil fuels. Yet, The Carbon Bubble won’t be suitable for children below high school due to advanced vocabularies and information processing skills.
The book upholds a rating of 3/5. Although Rubin presents an interesting view on the greenhouse problem, the book can be tedious. Even with Rubin’s plausible writing style, I felt overwhelmed with endless databases and researches. Readers need to be passionate about environmental science to indulge in The Carbon Bubble. Nonetheless, the book introduced a new scope on the greenhouse effect. It challenges readers to process large quantities of information and withdraw conclusions.
The Carbon Bubble is a well-rounded book. The book demonstrates a great balance of theories and facts. Rubin predicts future effects of climate change and retains credibility from statistics. He utilizes a wide range of databases, including ideas that oppose his argument. Instead of avoiding, Rubin outlines counter-arguments that further strengthen his thesis. Through this, Rubin’s firm writing style is plausible. He’s unbiased and relies on solid facts to support his thesis.
Jeff Rubin’s The Carbon Bubble will interest readers that follow environmental issues. It’ll further appeal to those that seek new perspectives upon a controversial topic. Instead of presenting the cliché argument, Rubin surprises readers with an alternate lens. He posits a world, in which climate change will kill the demand for high-carbon fossil fuels. Yet, The Carbon Bubble won’t be suitable for children below high school due to advanced vocabularies and information processing skills.
The book upholds a rating of 3/5. Although Rubin presents an interesting view on the greenhouse problem, the book can be tedious. Even with Rubin’s plausible writing style, I felt overwhelmed with endless databases and researches. Readers need to be passionate about environmental science to indulge in The Carbon Bubble. Nonetheless, the book introduced a new scope on the greenhouse effect. It challenges readers to process large quantities of information and withdraw conclusions.
May 7, 2015
Received this book through Goodreads courtesy of Random House Canada.
I finished reading this book the day after the provincial election in Alberta, in which the NDP party upset the long standing (40 years) Conservative party. Subsequently, the Toronto Stock Exchange(TSX) had a significant downturn owing primarily to sell of oil based companies primarily involved in the Alberta Tar Sands projects.
I only mention the above because if you were to have read this book prior to the vote, you most likely would have predicted these outcomes.
This is a well researched book focusing primarily on Canada and our country's (at least the current Federal Government's) objective of making Canada an energy (oil) superpower through development of the Alberta Oil Sands. This single minded focus has come in spite of several warning signs which should have been considered prior to the country putting more or less all their eggs in the oil basket. Such warning signs include issues such as global warning, emission controls,declining demand ,environemnt and logistics involved in getting the Alberta oil to end markets.
While focusing primarily on Canada, the book also explores issues related to the United States and other countries including both China and Russia. In short, readers outside of Canada should not shy away from the book due to its Canadian focus because the economic principles and lessons learned will be applicable to a wider audience.
The book contains considerable data, facts and figures to support the author's themes. Regardless of the amount of data presented the book is immensely readbale, logical, clear and most importantly never boring.
My knowledge of the economics of the oil industry, carbon emissions, fracking etc. have been tremendously increased through this book.
I finished reading this book the day after the provincial election in Alberta, in which the NDP party upset the long standing (40 years) Conservative party. Subsequently, the Toronto Stock Exchange(TSX) had a significant downturn owing primarily to sell of oil based companies primarily involved in the Alberta Tar Sands projects.
I only mention the above because if you were to have read this book prior to the vote, you most likely would have predicted these outcomes.
This is a well researched book focusing primarily on Canada and our country's (at least the current Federal Government's) objective of making Canada an energy (oil) superpower through development of the Alberta Oil Sands. This single minded focus has come in spite of several warning signs which should have been considered prior to the country putting more or less all their eggs in the oil basket. Such warning signs include issues such as global warning, emission controls,declining demand ,environemnt and logistics involved in getting the Alberta oil to end markets.
While focusing primarily on Canada, the book also explores issues related to the United States and other countries including both China and Russia. In short, readers outside of Canada should not shy away from the book due to its Canadian focus because the economic principles and lessons learned will be applicable to a wider audience.
The book contains considerable data, facts and figures to support the author's themes. Regardless of the amount of data presented the book is immensely readbale, logical, clear and most importantly never boring.
My knowledge of the economics of the oil industry, carbon emissions, fracking etc. have been tremendously increased through this book.
November 11, 2017
This is the third book by Jeff Rubin. His first book was a variation of the "peak oil" theory where he predicted that oil prices would skyrocket. His second book contained the mea culpa that he was wrong because higher oil prices created incentives to produce more oil which reduces price.
Jeff Rubin is an economist who formerly worked for a major Canadian bank. I don't think his prior views on the price of oil were wrong....just a bit off on timing. ( but only by a couple of years). Ultimately, I think his conclusions will be proven right: the price of oil will skyrocket.
This book continues on the theme but is more about Global Warming. He spends a fair bit of time talking about the changes that might occur to Canada's agriculture. ie. the wheat growing regions moving north as the permafrost recedes and corn becoming a more important crop. I can't say that he is wrong, but it read like he was speaking outside his area of expertise. His first two books talked a lot of oil sands production and it seemed like he really knew his stuff.
Jeff Rubin is an economist who formerly worked for a major Canadian bank. I don't think his prior views on the price of oil were wrong....just a bit off on timing. ( but only by a couple of years). Ultimately, I think his conclusions will be proven right: the price of oil will skyrocket.
This book continues on the theme but is more about Global Warming. He spends a fair bit of time talking about the changes that might occur to Canada's agriculture. ie. the wheat growing regions moving north as the permafrost recedes and corn becoming a more important crop. I can't say that he is wrong, but it read like he was speaking outside his area of expertise. His first two books talked a lot of oil sands production and it seemed like he really knew his stuff.
July 5, 2016
The Carbon Bubble, What happens to us when it Bursts by Jeff Rubin presents an interesting economic study. The inter-related policy decisions pertaining to creating new physical pipelines for distribution of crude oil to distant refineries are interesting. The different routes planned, and their phenomenal distance was simply amazing. What grabbed me the most though were the references to some of the current trends: automobile gasoline consumption down by 10%; fewer young people getting their driver licences, to name a couple. These are trends that could really affect the economy within my lifetime; in a drastic and dramatic way. This is interesting!
Read
May 12, 2015Jeff Rubin’s skill in shifting from the Bay Street establishment audience to the general reading public has been his ability in turning the anodyne and turgid prose of economics into something homespun and accessible.
While he is not without his detractors – anyone who isn’t is unarguably uninteresting—he does have the ability to be understandable and engaging to a variety of audiences, a clever raconteur who gets his message across amid a media landscape full of noise and bluster.
Full Review: http://bit.ly/1QFeQVV
While he is not without his detractors – anyone who isn’t is unarguably uninteresting—he does have the ability to be understandable and engaging to a variety of audiences, a clever raconteur who gets his message across amid a media landscape full of noise and bluster.
Full Review: http://bit.ly/1QFeQVV
June 4, 2016
A really interesting read. It's a shame that so much has changed since the book was written. Even when Mr. Rubin was writing the conclusion, he indicated that a lot had changed since he began writing the book. Stephen Harper was still also Prime Minister when the conclusion was written. It was quite evident that Mr. Rubin did not like Mr. Harper's take on Canada becoming an oil empire. Rightly so....
January 14, 2026
The author uses compelling arguments and related research to provide warnings of what is to come with the bursting global carbon bubble.
Have we considered what would happen when the world's oil is depleted?
Thank you GoodReads for the book.
November 25, 2015
Very good summary and analysis of climate change and the economy. For those who follow the issue closely, there isn't much that is new, but this is a great read for someone new to the topic.
June 25, 2015
A book every Canadian has to read.
January 19, 2017
Excellent read for Canadians who care about both the environment & the economy, and further recognize that these things are not mutually exclusive.
March 24, 2021
Although very outdated, a glimpse into the future we are living now.
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March 5, 2017Offers a good big picture overview of various issues, reminding us how they all fit together: climate change, the fossil fuel industry, Canada's reliance on the oil sands, and what other industries we can switch to. Short on practical advice about your stock portfolio, apart from investing in food and water industries, but I didn't mind, since I wasn't looking for that. I am a little concerned about how financial markets affect food security, but that's a story for another book I should read.
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