According to the radicals rattling their cages about the dire consequences of CO2 buildup in the atmosphere, we should all vastly reduce our use of oil, natural gas and coal as the main culprits in this buildup. The radicals make the point that those individuals and corporations that are in favor of the continued use of these fossil fuels are science-deniers and don’t admit the inevitable dire consequences of their actions. The radicals think if only everyone was onboard with swopping out the use of fossil fuels for alterative energy sources, such as wind, solar, etc., then the issue of climate change would be successfully addressed, and we would avoid those dire consequences they foresee. In my opinion, this makes these radicals no better than climate change fools, with very simplistic, even childlike, notions concerning the nature of this problem.
The core issue the radicals are want to admit is that the use of these fossil fuels — oil, natural gas and coal — are at the very heart of our economic system. And it’s not as if they only benefit corporations involved in their exploitation. In fact, the very prosperity of everyone, including all of these radicals, is intimately connected with the use of these fossils fuels. Take them away and the standard of living of everyone, including the radicals, collapses to a level the world has never experienced. That’s the harsh reality of this problem.
I would even go so far as to say that the majority of individuals and corporations that advocate the continued use of fossil fuels are probably in agreement with the radicals and the science that says that the earth is warming at an alarming rate and there will be dire consequences. A majority of them are not science-deniers at all — they are simply people who realize that our very way of life and prosperity are hopelessly enmeshed with the use of fossil fuels.
Then there’s the argument that we should simply swop the more recent “clean” sources of energy for the devilish fossil fuels, but even a cursory review of the statistics shows how naive and simple-minded a notion this is. Wind, solar, etc. don’t produce anything like the quantity of energy required by the modern world economy, and based on the current statistics, never will, even with the most optimistic projections.
So the real problem with climate change is this: how do we mitigate the damage (excessive production of greenhouse gases) of fossil fuels without eliminating the use of fossil fuels (because our economy needs them, our prosperity and way of life depend upon them). No one has come up with the solution to this vexing conundrum — least of all the simple-minded but oh so self-righteous radicals.
Henry's Views 