Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Even as we are taught to think of ourselves as in mortal climate danger, human beings are progressively
becoming
masters
of climate. There are two components to mastering climate. One is control over the cli-
mate you're in. Two is the ability to make the most of the climate you're in.
At any point in the last billion years, the Earth has been full of all kinds of different climates with dif-
ferent levels and patterns of heat, cold, precipitation, etc.—and there will always be a wide variety of de-
sirable and undesirable places. But even once human beings came on the scene, with their fantastic brains,
they couldn't choose their climate very easily because of
lack of mobility.
Thanks to the internal combus-
tion engine, which in 1992 Al Gore said should be outlawed in twenty-five years (i.e., 2017), we can go
anywhere, anytime.
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You can also, incidentally, choose more dangerous areas that have other benefits. You can choose to
expose yourself to hurricanes and flooding on the coasts because you like other features of the area. Or
you can go to blizzard-prone areas because you want to ski and snowboard every day. This is the ultimate
climate freedom. And we have this freedom, not just once but (to the extent we can afford it, which is
closely related to the affordability of energy) throughout the year.
If you think of climate in a real way, not as some vague, mystical, “global climate” but as the climate
around you, you are a
master of climate
just by virtue of the fact that you can change climates.
Of course, moving is not always easy (especially for the undeveloped world, which I'll discuss in a mo-
ment), butclimate changes, even inthe worst scenarios proposed bythe most alarmist ofthe failed models,
occur over periods of fifty to a hundred years. As with everything else in life, if we need to enhance our
ability to do something—such as move—we need to be doubling down on energy production, not restrict-
ing it.
Again, mass movement with regard to climate changes seems very unlikely, but it's still worth mention-
ing because mobility is desirable, period, for the sake of the pursuit of happiness and because someday,
some future generation
is
going to be faced with a dramatic climate change, and they'll need the energy
and mobility to cope with it.
Sofossilfuelsgiveyoutheclimatefreedomtomove,butaswehaveseen,theyalsogiveyoutheclimate
freedom to stay and thrive pretty much anywhere. Cheap, plentiful, reliable energy from fossil fuels amp-
lifies our ability to build an infrastructure that insulates us from nature's climate dangers and discomforts.
And cheap, plentiful, reliable energy from fossil fuels amplifies our ability to enjoy the benefits of a given
climate (or multiple climates).
Bottom line: Fossil fuel energy, by enabling us to cheaply build and run wondrous machines that give
us the mobility to choose any particular climate and the ability to increase the livability of that climate, has
made us masters of climate. That doesn't mean we are invulnerable, but the numbers show that we have
become progressively less vulnerable. And if we care about climate livability, energy and technology have
to be the focus.
Why do our thought leaders never talk about this part of the fossil fuel-energy equation, which we can
call the energy effect? It's all around us. While in Minnesota over New Year's 2014 visiting some dear
friends (they would have to be dear for me to brave that weather), I realized, upon walking from my car to
the bed-and-breakfast about forty feet away, that I couldn't find my key. I was in the natural climate. As I
searched for my key at −10 degrees Fahrenheit, my fingers getting very cold very fast, it occurred to me
that, were I stuck outside, I could easily die within the hour. I can only imagine what it would have been
like the next week, when temperatures reached −70 degrees Fahrenheit one day. Fortunately, I could get
warm in a high-energy car, find my key, and stay warm in a high-energy hotel.
