Fossil fuel extraction belongs in the past, not the future.
The human race is driven by goals. Industrialisation, set off by the extraction of fossil fuels, was driven by the goal of development. Today, a bicentennial after the industrial revolution, it is essential that we set a new goal, and the goal must be to alter the notion of development. Skyscrapers seem to be the epitome of development, but that is not true. Development lies in sustainability– finding new ways to sustain humankind– and looking at the rate at which we are depleting fossil fuels, we will not be able to sustain ourselves for long.
It is general knowledge that fossil fuels are harmful because they cause global warming. However, carbon emissions are merely the tip of the iceberg. Fossil fuels– coal, petroleum, and natural gas– are all extracted at a great cost. Not only do the gases released by coal mining cause pollution, but they can also cause explosions and can be toxic to miners. The process also causes irreparable damage to entire habitats, as the land must be cleared to mine; the loss of habitats inevitably results in the destruction of ecosystems. Petroleum harms ecosystems in another way: oil rigs cause oil spills, which destroy aquatic life.
The third form of fossil fuel, natural gas, might seem to be relatively safer, but the fracturing of rocks to release the store of gas causes mini-earthquakes. Moreover, the fracturing process often includes sending down water at high-pressure, and chemicals, which can leak into nearby water sources, and contaminate them. Unfortunately, the reality behind these accidents is that communities often lack the “gold-collar” labour to ensure the safe fossil fuel extraction. In a 1993 case filed by Erin Brockovich against the PG&E gas company, the company was accused of contaminating water with hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, which had leaked into the water supplies of Hinkley, California.
If fossil fuels are so undeniably dangerous, why are we still completely dependent on them? All developing economies forage for economically viable fuel. Despite the world-wide economic sanctions on Russia, India and China continue to buy their fuel, simply because of the drop in price. Fossil fuels are also highly portable, and reliable. Switching to renewable sources might be perceived as a change that is not economically achievable. Yet, when Costa Rica– also a developing nation– decided to source all of its electricity from renewable energy, it did not set their economy back. Monica Araya, a climate advocate from Costa Rica, argues in her TED talk that the transition to a green economy– which started by abolishing the military and investing in National Parks– benefited them, because resources could be diverted to welfare measures. They saw a boost in eco-tourism, and a reversal in deforestation.
While the Costa Rican democracy made the transition through people’s participation, Bhutan chose to move in the same direction because of their enlightened King, who decided that Gross National Happiness (GNH) was more important than GDP, and ensured that the country not only became carbon neutral, but carbon negative! Following in the footsteps of these countries, and erasing carbon footprint is the way to go.
The goals of all nations must be etched into their constitutions: and one of them must be to abolish fossil fuels at the earliest. The government should subsidise clean energy industries, instead of fossil fuel industries, and levy a carbon tax to keep companies accountable. A complete realignment of economies to wean them from dirty energy is not going to happen overnight but it’s high time we started. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist, puts it eloquently when he said, “If aliens did visit us, I would be embarrassed to tell them that we still dig fossil fuels from the ground as a source of energy.”
We are losing more to climate change than we can ever retrieve, so the change must begin now. Nature has a garden full of green energy sources– solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass – and the gates are always open.