Climate Change and Fossil Fuels

Climate change is an extremely complex, overwhelming, and widespread issue that is hard to fit into a compact explanation. But to give a quick synopsis of climate change or global warming, according to the United States Geological Survey, which is a government Agency, global warming refers to the rise in global temperatures due mainly to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. But you may be wondering, why is hotter weather an issue?

First, it is called climate change, meaning the overall temperature, not just the weather. Altering the earth’s climate systems means increasing the number of and intensifying the extreme weather events around the globe such as heatwaves, hurricanes, droughts, and floods. This also means intensifying precipitation extremes or making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier. Additionally, climate change is raising the sea levels, which are caused by melting glaciers and sea ice. Also, the overall increase in ocean temperatures contributes to the rise of sea levels because warmer water expands. Lastly, the increase in the overall climate alters ecosystems and natural habitats, shifting the geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, and the abundance of land, freshwater, and marine species. Though these changes may seem minor, or harmless to humans, they carry catastrophic consequences that could ultimately lead to the extinction of the human race. First, a hotter climate means insects that spread diseases like dengue fever and Zika can thrive, posing a threat to humans. Also, heatwaves are getting hotter and more lethal to humans as the overall climate increases the temperature. However, the most threatening to humans would be the droughts and floods that lead to a diminished food supply. Additionally, the hotter the climate, the faster the water in our soil evaporates, making it increasingly harder to grow crops and feed our planet. In fact, a 2011 National Research Council study found that for every degree Celsius that the planet heats up, crop yields will go down 5 to 15 percent. Obviously, this is a large percentage, especially considering the fact that scientists predict that by the end of this century, the overall climate of our atmosphere will rise by four degrees. This means that crop yields could potentially decrease by a total of 60%. This would leave an overwhelmingly large population of people hungry worldwide. Food insecurity can lead to starvation, mass human migration, and political instability to name a few.

One of the main contributors to climate change is fossil fuels. To understand the effects of fossil fuels on climate change, we first need to understand Greenhouse gases and their role in global warming. The main greenhouse gases include Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, and Water vapor which all occur naturally. Then there are fluorinated gases, which are man-made gases that can stay in the atmosphere for centuries and contribute to a global greenhouse effect. Common fluorinated gases include Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, Sulfur hexafluoride, and Nitrogen trifluoride. These greenhouse gases contribute to climate change by trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but they prevent the heat that the sunlight brings from leaving the atmosphere, thus heating up our atmosphere overall. Fun fact, greenhouse gases are named after real greenhouses for plants that let light in, but trap in the heat. Also, it is important to note that greenhouse gases are not inherently bad, without them the earth would be too cold, and what we define as “life” or “living things” would not be able to survive in the cold climate, including us humans. However, the concentration of greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is becoming increasingly too high and therefore intensifying and speeding up the effects of climate change.

Next, the main four types of fossil fuels are petroleum, coal, natural gas, and Orimulsion which are used in almost all aspects of modern life. Fossil fuels are used to heat our homes, run our vehicles, power industry, and manufacturing, and provide us with electricity. In fact, The United States gets 81% of its total energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels. Our current society undeniably depends on fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels pollute the environment, are non-renewable, and therefore unsustainable. On top of that, drilling for fossil fuels is a dangerous process. Fossil fuels are detrimental to our environment because when fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides(a greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change, the formation of smog, and acid rain.

The problem with fossil fuels is that they are used so often, and so much that they have a massive effect on the environment. Fossil fuel companies are by far the largest contributors to climate change today. In fact, according to a Carbon Majors report, just 100 companies have been responsible for more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and Chevron, which are all oil industry companies, are identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies since 1988. Furthermore, more than half of global industrial emissions since 1988 can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities. If fossil fuels continue to be extracted at the same rate over the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4 degrees C by the end of the century. This is likely to have catastrophic consequences including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks, as previously mentioned.

But, how do we as a society reduce our use of fossil fuels?

Clearly, we can’t just stop using anything and everything that uses fossil fuels. If we were to do that, our society as we know it would probably suffer. We wouldn’t be able to drive cars or ride buses or trains or heat our buildings or turn on lights or do many many other things. We could start trying small actions to reduce our usage of fossil fuels like turning off the lights when we leave the room or turning off the air conditioning in our homes when leaving for the day. But these small actions, though they can help, are most definitely not a solution. The best solution is an alternative source of energy. Thus, renewable energy. Renewable energy is energy that has been derived from the earth’s natural resources that are not finite or exhaustible, such as wind and sunlight. Renewable energy is an alternative to traditional energy that relies on fossil fuels, and it tends to be much less harmful to the environment. Some examples of renewable energy that have already been integrated into our society include solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy, and biomass energy. Solar energy is one of the most common and well-known sources of renewable energy. It comes in the form of solar panels, which use energy from sunlight and do not produce air pollutants or carbon dioxide.