The War on Fossil Fuels - A Losing Cause For Continued Human Flourishing

 Fossil Future – New Book by Alex Epstein

There is an abundance of news, discussion, conversation, social media posts re: the future of fossil fuels – most of which centers on their adverse environmental side effects. The central theme is to advance the prediction (opinion – not science) that continuing use of fossil fuels will end in catastrophic consequences for any form of life on the planet by 2030 or 2040 or whatever (the year keeps on moving out). The only solution to this problem ever mentioned is to promote, with government subsidies, the widespread use of wind and solar – so called ‘renewables”.  

Epstein’s recently published book, Fossil Future, is his second writing on this subject. His first, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, was published in 2014 so he has spent years in becoming knowledgeable on the benefits and adverse side effects of fossil fuels. Epstein’s book avoids any mention of politics. He does not accept funding from energy companies. So his books are an excellent objective read for any reader who is truly interested in learning both the benefits and adverse side effects of using fossil fuels.

Both of Epsteins books have generated adverse reviews from global warming alarmists. These folks do considerable harm to their cause in feeling the need to find fault with and go public against any writing that disagrees with their opinion. (It is indeed “opinion” -- there is no validity to the premise of “scientific consensus” on any science subject).

Following are excerpts from the book that capture the essence of Fossil Future:

There are 2 opposing views on the use of fossil fuels:; 1) fossil fuels are a source of global human flourishing that have brought and will continue to bring huge benefits to global human well-being – a premise supported by historical facts; 2) the side effects of using fossil fuels (greenhouse gas emission) will result in global temperature rise which will destroy human life as we know it.  

The moral case for eliminating fossil fuels is never portrayed as one competing view among many. It is portrayed as the near-unanimous consensus of “experts” (who are also disseminators) by a wide variety of “trusted” sources, including:

·       News organizations such as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

·       Spokespeople of scientific institutions – above all United Nations Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change. (IPCC)

·       Leaders of private sector entities such as Blackrock and Apple whose top management have signed on to “net zero” emissions or “100% renewable pledges” claiming that they are moral and practical.

·       Self-appointed disseminators - James Hansen, Al Gore, Paul Ehrlich, Michael Mann, John Kerry.

Consideration of nuclear energy is never mentioned under the opinion that nuclear waste cannot be safely stored. Yet there are many knowledgeable proponents of nuclear energy who are never heard – never invited to the so called international conferences on global warming. According to the World Nuclear Association “Nuclear waste is neither particularly hazardous nor hard to manage relative to other toxic industrial waste. Safe methods for the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste are technically proven; the international consensus is that geological disposal is the best option.” Environment expert Michael Shellenberger ”If all the nuclear waste from US power plants were placed on a football field, it would stack up to just 50’ high”. Imagine how pollution free the planet would be today if nuclear energy development had been subsidized in the last 20 years as much as renewables.

We are being told by the “experts” and ”disseminators”, that we must do away with fossil fuels, the source of 80% of the world’s energy, in a world where billions of people desperately lack energy. We are being told by these “experts” that only intermittent solar and wind (never any mention of nuclear energy), which in spite of trillions of taxpayer dollars spent in the past 20 years, and which only provide 3% of today’s world’s energy, will provide most of the world’s energy in less than 30 years.

The “experts”/”disseminators” (falsely) tell us:

·       China is “eating our lunch with solar and wind. Fact: China’s energy production is 85% fossil fuels – including electricity that is 64% coal.

·       Fossil fuels are rapidly being replaced by “renewables” Fact: After decades of government subsidies to promote renewables – solar and wind provide only 3 % of the global energy

·       Al Gore, a self-appointed “expert/disseminator”, in a 2008 address, claiming to be relying on the “best ,expert knowledge”, called to mandate 100% renewable energy by 2018 – meaning that fossil fuels would be outlawed. He did not engage arguments by energy economists that there was no known way to do this at any cost, let alone low cost. He celebrated the “amazing progress of renewables”. He said “In just 10 years “we can end our dependence on oil and use renewables that can give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline.” Fact: His uninformed prediction proved to be dead wrong.

·       John Kerry with no credentials that qualify him as an “expert”:  “If the worst case scenario about global warming never materializes, we would leave our water cleaner, make our food supply more secure. Our population would be healthier”. Kerry “knows” this to be true because he is a self-appointed “expert/disseminator”, yet there are no facts to support his opinion.

·       Increased fossil fuel emissions are the primary cause of the increase in hurricanes. There is no factual data that supports this opinion. According to the US Hurricane Center, the number of hurricanes and their intensity has remained relatively constant in the last 100 years – a period of increased use of fossil fuels.

·       Increased fossil fuels emissions are the primary cause of the increase in wild fires. There is no factual data to support this opinion. In fact, 2019 saw a remarkably small amount of acreage burn, just 280,000 acres compared to 1.3 million and 1.6 million in 2017 and 2018, respectively. “I see [the current California fires] as a normal event, just not one that happens every year,” according to Jon Keeley, a leading forest scientist, According to the US Forest Service, nearly 85% of wildland fires in the United States are caused by humans who are increasingly visiting/camping in our forests. Human-caused fires result from campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, equipment use and malfunctions, negligently discarded cigarettes, and intentional acts of arson. 

·       The “experts/disseminators” treat the human impact on climate as intrinsically immoral. They are only open to the negative and neutral impacts on climate change – not the positive ones such as warmth in dangerously cold places or increased fertilization of plants (CO 2 is, in fact, a plant food)

·       Shockingly the ‘experts”/disseminators” exhibit no concern over (in fact  never mention) the prospect of losing the benefits of fossil fuels. No mention of what would happen to billions of ordinary people who would lose cost effective energy if fossil fuels were eliminated without a miraculous alternative already generating continuous energy to meet their everyday needs,

Facts:

·       Cost effective energy is essential to global human flourishing.

·       Fossil fuels are a uniquely cost-effective, reliable, scalable source of the world’s energy.

·       Billions of people are suffering and dying for the lack of cost effective energy.

·       With the rise in use of fossil fuels usage and atmospheric CO2 since 1920, climate-related disaster deaths have plummeted from 2500 deaths per million in 1920 to 80 deaths per million in 2019. Fossil fueled climate mastery through human intervention has been and will always be an enormously powerful force that can overcome massive natural disaster climate danger. 

·       Human beings around the world are highly dependent on countless oil/gas driven “machines” – from lawn mowers to generators to scooters to personal watercraft to bulldozers to tractors to train locomotives to cruise and cargo ships to airplanes – the list is endless. These machines will never be driven by wind/solar powered electricity or any form of electricity. The elimination of fossil fuel driven machines will therefore never be a viable solution to the threat of global warming.  As fossil fuel use continues, fossil fueled climate mastery will grow as more people will have more machine labor to develop even better forms of climate mastery. Even highly speculative increases in sea levels will be little problem for a machine empowered world.

·       Fossil fuels give us the unprecedented ability to choose where we live and thus choose our climate. 

Check out this video clip for facts on why solar, windmills and batteries are not a practical solution:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wDOI-uLvTnY

For the benefit of mankind, fossil fuels will continue to be a source of global human flourishing. Please pass this on to your family and friends.