Eliminating fossil fuels: it can be done, and must be done
Ending the use of fossil fuel technologies is the only way to tackle the climate emergency we have created.Let’s be clear: burning coal, oil and gas got us into this mess, and the only way to get out of it is to stop doing so.
The chronology of the climate emergency runs parallel to the exploitation of fossil fuels as our primary energy source. The oil companies have lied about this for decades, but increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere follow the progress of industrialization, and get worse and worse as we introduce multiplicative technologies such as the automobile.
As of today, power generation by fossil fuels such as coal, oil or gas is responsible for the climate disaster, followed immediately by transportation. Privately owned cars are the main source, mainly because they are tremendously inefficient and, above all, because there are so many of them, but we cannot ignore airplanes and ships. What’s more, 40% of all products transported by large ships are oil, coal or gas, so if we were to stop using these products, we would immediately reduce a very significant part of the pollution generated by these large ships.
How realistic is it to stop using fossil fuels? Obviously, doing so overnight would trigger a global crisis and starve millions of people, but a gradual phasing-out and…
