Environmental Engineering Reference
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In other words, the only conceivable reason I would say that our use of fossil fuels is a good thing is if
I had been paid off by the fossil fuel industry.
Even though this wasn't true, I understood why she thought it. It is conventional wisdom that our use
of fossil fuels is an “addiction”—a short-range, unsustainable, destructive habit.
Eighty-seven percent of the energy mankind uses every second, including most of the energy I am using
as I write this, comes from burning one of the fossil fuels: coal, oil, or natural gas. 1 Every time someone
uses a machine—whether the computer I am using right now, the factory it was produced in, the trucks and
ships that transported it, the furnace that forged the aluminum, the farm equipment that fed all the workers
who made it, or the electricity that keeps their lights on, their phones charged, and their restaurants and
hospitals open—they are using energy that they must be able to rely on and afford. And 87 percent of the
time, that energy comes from coal, oil, or natural gas. 2 Without exception, anyone who lives a modern life
is directly or indirectly using large amounts of fossil fuel energy—it is that ubiquitous.
But, we are told, this cannot continue.
While it might be convenient to drive gasoline cars and get electricity from coal in the short run, and
while we might have needed them in the past, the argument goes, in the long run we are making our cli-
mate unlivable, destroying our environment, and depleting our resources. We must and can replace fossil
fuels with renewable, green, climate-friendly energy from solar, wind, and biomass (plants).
This is not a liberal view or a conservative view; it's a view that almost everyone holds in one form
or another. Even fossil fuel companies make statements like the one the former CEO of Shell made in
2013: “We believe climate change is real and time is running out to take real action to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions.” 3 President George W. Bush was the person who popularized the expression “addicted to
oil.” 4 The debate over our addiction to fossil fuels is usually over how dangerous the addiction is and how
quickly we can get rid of it—not whether we have one.
And the most prominent groups say we must get rid of it very quickly.
For years, the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has demanded
thattheUnitedStates andotherindustrialized countries cutcarbondioxideemissions to20percent of1990
levels by 2050—and the United States has joined hundreds of other countries in agreeing to this goal. 5
Every day, we hear of new predictions from prestigious experts reinforcing the calls for massive re-
strictions on fossil fuel use. As I write this, news about melting ice in West Antarctica is leading to dire
predictions of sea level rises: “Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans from Polar Melt,” reports the New York
Times ; “Is It Too Late to Save Our Cities from Sea-Level Rise?” asks Newsweek , citing new research that
“Miami and Manhattan will drown sooner than we thought.” 6
The message is clear: Our use of fossil fuels is going to destroy us in the long run, and we should focus
our efforts on dramatically reducing it as soon as humanly possible.
So when the girl at the Greenpeace booth implied that I had sold my soul, I didn't get offended. I simply
explained that, no, I wasn't being paid off; I had just concluded, based on my research, that the short- and
long-term benefits of using fossil fuels actually far, far outweigh the risks and was happy to explain why.
But she wasn't interested. Pointing me to the Greenpeace pamphlets giving all the reasons fossil fuels are
bad, she said, “So many experts predict that using fossil fuels is going to lead to catastrophe—why should
I listen to you?” She made it clear that this wasn't a real question and that the conversation was over.
But if she had wanted an answer, I would have told her this: I understand that a lot of smart people are
predicting catastrophic consequences from using fossil fuels, I take that very seriously, and I have studied
their predictions extensively.
 
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