I will admit to taking advantage of fossil fuels. My house is heated with oil. We have a gas range. I don't own a hybrid car and so am dependent on gasoline to get from A to B. I use plastics. But, despite my habits, I fully understand that fossil fuels are a limited resource. How can they not be? We are finding and exploiting materials that are absolutely finite in the short term. We are using way too much of it too quickly for it to be sustainable, and scientists agree that it takes thousands of years if not hundreds of thousands of years to replenish the supply cache we are already tapped into. That's just science.
It makes sense to find an alternative. And, luckily that riddle has been solved. With the expectation that "nothing is perfect" we are getting better and better at harnessing wind and solar power. There have been advances at using the tides to generate energy, and also technologies which are making geothermal heating a reality.
Why does this matter? There's a couple of reasons. Economically, it would be great to be energy independent. As our current President makes trading with the United States less palatable, our dependencies on foreign energy suppliers exposes a weakness, one that can be used to manipulate markets. During Obama's presidency, and likely due to policies adopted by his predecessors as well, Forbes reported that U.S. dependence on foreign oil has hit a 30-year low. Unfortunately, this isn't because we're using less of it, but more of a fact that we're producing more of our own at a steep environmental cost. Yesterday, this:
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday failed to pass a measure to block oil and gas drilling in part of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, losing to Republicans who believe production there would provide jobs and wealth."
Our government will likely subsidize exploration, i.e. pay a private firm to dig up one of our last undisturbed wildernesses. Those companies will reap huge economic benefits through the sale of this finite resource, and we'll be more heavily contributing to global warming. Oh, you're unfamiliar? Certainly, industry heads are more interested in making a buck than sustainable business practices. But, now they have friends in congress (read: recipients of reelection dollars) and the White House who are helping them achieve their goals.
I think it's clear that humans are impacting the temperature of the earth. It's been widely reported that 97% of scientists believe that global warming is our fault, or that we're exacerbating the problem. Our President thinks that it's a conspiracy against business, and as a businessman where regulations impact his bottom line (no thanks to the emoluments clause) I can understand not being happy with rules that prevent him from making more money. However, I am flabbergasted about anyone coming right out and saying, "nope, it's not us and it's not as bad as you think."
In support of that false narrative, our government is doing its best to scrub all mentions of climate change from federal websites. Most recently, the EPA is removing climate change information related to the increase of "natural disasters." It's impossible to believe that they think that the mere removal of the science will mean that it will go away. If anything, between the California wildfires, and the most recent hurricane to hit Ireland, these are examples of climate influenced events, and they are clearly getting worse. It seems that the last outpost of climate science on a federal website is at NASA where they clearly link the burning of fossil fuels with the increase of greenhouse gasses and the direct impact on the global temperature thereby increasing the chance for more destructive natural disasters. It's science.
I don't have a suggestion of how to stop it other than voting in people who believe scientific fact. However, change your daily habits and do what's within your control to pollute less and become more energy efficient. I do know that cities all over the United States have vowed to continue to follow protocols set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement in hopes of slowing down the potential effects of increased drilling and utilization of fossil fuels by our government and their allies. We need to be loud and supportive of those politicians advancing the science. We need to protect irrefutable science from big business and overall nutjob TV show celebrities who have ascended into a high-powered governmental position (no, not you Mr. Franken). And we need to strive to keep the planet habitable for as long as possible, for our children and our children's children.
If 97 out of 100 doctors told you that you had cancer, why would you ignore them?
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