“Fossil fuels use is a fundamental, irreplaceable value to the future of human flourishing that should continue and expand going forward. There should be no limit whatsoever placed on the quantity of fossil fuel use, including no limit whatsoever on CO2 emissions.” – Fossil Future
With gas prices at historic highs, and the cost of electricity increasing by as much as 35 percent in some areas of the country, the United States energy policy continues to fail its citizens. Now Californians are being asked to curtail energy use due to rolling blackouts expected across the state, while 20 million Americans have fallen behind in their energy bills, with no relief in sight. In country after country, from Bangladesh to the Netherlands, to Indonesia, and Prague, riots and protests are breaking out in response to high energy costs and anticipated energy shortages.
Why this is happening despite a glut of energy options, is a question begging to be answered. There is no lack of coal, oil, or gas, nor are there any barriers to nuclear energy. The energy crisis we see today is completely manufactured by the autocratic busybodies who benefit the most from the green lobby. And it is threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions if not billions of people around the globe. If the people who advocate for climate change policies became the recipients of their effects, the global warming catastrophe would be over in a day.
After a 50-year transition to solar and wind, only 3 percent of world electricity is provided by these renewables, despite incessant mandates and subsidies, even as electricity is only 20 percent of all energy. Even Germany, the renewable energy capital of the world, has begun firing up coal plants and recently changed course over its plans to eliminate its last nuclear energy plants, all because of an energy crisis that is threatening their existence.
Yet, in August 2022, President Biden continued the charade by signing a bill that included the largest climate grift in the history of the United States; a total of $369 billion for solar, wind, and tax credits for electric vehicles. These handouts will only increase energy costs, as Biden has already shut down pipelines and placed a moratorium on drilling oil on public lands, driving gas prices to the highest record in American history.
In Alex Epstein’s 2022 follow-up book, “Fossil Future”, Epstein continues where he left off from his 2016 book, “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels”. With the focus on human flourishing and increased standards of living for all, Epstein once again makes the case for more fossil fuels, not less. As fossil fuels continue to provide more than 80 percent of energy needs in the world, another 3 billion people in developing countries continue to search for their own cheap energy options. And as the world continues to innovate, more and more energy will be needed to support newer and better technological advances. Epstein laments that it is completely illogical to call for an end to fossil fuels when renewal energy couldn’t possibly pick up the slack left behind. Reducing fossil fuels without a suitable replacement will cause mass starvation, economic devastation, and human suffering on a grand scale.
Epstein notes that the biggest error coming from the environmental movement is evaluating its energy policy on a framework of minimal impact on nature. As such, only negative aspects of fossil fuels, their CO2 emissions, and side effects are considered, completely ignoring the spectacular benefits that have raised the quality of life for billions. This unbalanced look disproportionately catastrophizes the effects of fossil fuels, without considering how fossil fuels have largely reduced the consequences caused by CO2.
This anti-development goal of no impact on nature is unreasonable. In nature, as we first found it, there was starvation, poverty, disease, and lack of sanitation. Rivers don’t run clean, and generating food requires an enormous swath of land. Bugs, by their very nature, carry diseases whose cures require significant energy to produce. Nor do reliable structures and clothing needed to ward off the elements of nature grow on trees.
Instead, we require significant energy to transform nature to our advantage. We need oil for transportation costs, and heat and air conditioning during winter and summer. Fossil fuels built sturdy buildings to withstand hurricanes and manufactured irrigation systems to address droughts. It provided the energy for the desalination of water and created early warning sirens for storms. Ironically, fossil fuels are the main producers of renewable energy alternatives, which would be impossible without them. Unquestionably, the benefits enjoyed by fossil fuels far outweigh any side effects or damage to the environment.
When assessing energy policy on a framework of human flourishing as the main aim, the only viable replacements for fossil fuels would be nuclear and hydroelectric. But both continue to be dismissed by environmental activists as bad for the environment. Instead, Luddites the world over are content to diminish the standard of living for the masses, demanding less power, not more. Yet, as they disempower the US and the West, the much-ballyhooed Paris Agreement allows more fossil fuel production for China and India. A completely illogical position.
Fossil fuels sustain life on Earth in many ways. Our mastery over nature and climate consequences are reflected in the Netherlands’ ability to house one-quarter of its citizens below sea level. In fact, as fossil fuel use rose, climate conditions improved, pollution declined, the population grew, and mortality rates increased. Its continuing use will remove more people from poverty, allow more innovation to offset the negative impacts of acquiring energy, and, most importantly, allow people to thrive.
Unfortunately, our alternative energy chickens are already beginning to come home to roost with energy costs soaring beyond the reach of average citizens. If we continue this irrational transition to green energy, without addressing our reliance on fossil fuels, catastrophic consequences will continue to create unfathomable hardship for citizens around the globe. Hopefully, the panic that environmentalists relied on to increase their influence, will circle back and defeat them.
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