Here's Why You Should Be Thankful for Fossil Fuels
Your comfortable 21st century lifestyle would be impossible without them
There aren’t many things more ironic than watching environmental activists protest the use of and demand the elimination of fossil fuels. Most of them probably couldn’t name more than a dozen things they are used for, or even realize they are needed for things besides gasoline or energy.
Modern civilization is impossible without fossil fuels. We are a long way from functioning without them no matter what the extremists who throw soup on Van Gogh paintings demand. It would be interesting to hear their views on what can be used instead to replace all of the necessities we need to survive. They are more interested in creating disruption than solutions.
Do those activists know fossil fuels are required for the manufacturing of over 6000 everyday products and technology we all use? What are their replacements for these materials for us to maintain our standard of living? It would be impressive if they created something as useful as plastic. Plastic has serious issues, but it’s required for too many uses to eliminate if fossil fuels go away.
In case you are curious about what some of the products are that require fossil fuels, here’s a list:
Airplanes
Asprin
Asphalt
Bandages
Car battery cases
Clothing
Computer monitors and keyboards
Dashboards
Eyeglasses
Fertilizers
Heart valves
Hospital equipment
iPads, and iPhones
Personal care products
Pharmaceuticals
Refrigerants
Roofing
Solar panels
Wind turbine blades
Our lives would be more at risk without fossil fuels than with them. The global warming protestors probably don’t realize their protests against fossil fuels wouldn’t be possible without them. How would we get solar panels and wind turbines they think will save the world without those products? It would be interesting to see activists live a month without any fossil fuel products.
The planet has always been warming and cooling with and without fossil fuel use. Plastics are a huge waste problem and aren’t easily recyclable as we have been led to believe. The problem is we don’t have an equal or superior substitute. Despite what the media says, the science isn’t settled on the planet’s climate and it’s foolish to abandon fossil fuels and throw out human flourishing and progress.
We should cut our fossil fuels for energy so we can continue to produce these products longer. Nuclear is the best solution that has no carbon dioxide emissions. Leftists say we should imitate Europe and we should do that here because France gets 70% of their energy from nuclear. The problem is most people who are alarmed in America about climate oppose this solution.
Fossil fuels don’t deserve demonization. They are key to our civilization prospering and we would move backward without them and economies would collapse. We already have a solution for energy needs with nuclear. The mission of the anti-fossil fuel crowd should be to find equivalent or superior substitutes for materials we need derived from fossil fuels instead of scaring people and to be a bit more grateful for them.
Thanks for the comment...I agree we should burn less fossil fuels for energy purposes to fight global warming. Where I disagree with the AOCs of the world is how we do it. Wind and solar aren't viable replacements. We need a lot more nuclear to generate the energy we need, especially if environmentalists want us all in electric cars, which aren't great for the environment either because of all the mining required to get the materials for batteries. But they are against nuclear too, which has no carbon emissions.
Not even AOC would deny that. The whole text is misleading. All your points are valid, but the fight against burning fossil fuels and global warming is valid too. And you know that.