I have been seeing a lot of commentary about Greta Thunberg and climate change and with the Canadian election being held today, I’m seeing plenty of content on Facebook about people claiming the whole thing is a sham and it’s just some kind of Liberal scam to keep them in office.
Aside from the fact that saying something like that is ludicrous, I do have some of my own thoughts on the entire climate change topic I’m going to voice here.
Whether you believe in it or not, climate change is happening. I’m not saying we are doomed. But even living in Moncton for 34 years, I can tell you that the weather patterns HAVE changed. They do seem to be changing everywhere. I’m not going to pretend I know anything about how it all works, but when I see the insanity of weather happening around the world, I see it as something having changed.
Generally, the masses say that the current climate change is a result of our excessive use of carbon producing fuels. This translates really into one thing: oil. Because the world is powered by oil, and oil produces carbon gases which are released into our atmosphere and contribute to the warming or change in our climate.
Now even if you think that the release of carbon isn’t hurting our climate, it’s been proven time and time again that fossil fuels (again oil based) are bad for the environment and even worse for human health. So the answer seems simple: work to replace oil as our primary energy source.
SO again and again we hear people complaining about how we are destroying our environment and the world is going to end all because of climate change and we need to stop using fossil fuels.
OK! FINE! I GET IT!
What can we replace it with?
<dramatic pause>
Uh. Well….
<pause again while waiting for an answer>
Solar power, or wind power, or maybe even nuclear power? Fuel cells?
How many people do you see out there replacing their cars with electric or fuel cell? Can you count the number of homes that use solar and wind energy as their primary source of electricity? When was the last time you heard of a “new” nuclear power facility opening up?
All of these “green” energy alternatives sound great, but let’s be honest, they all suck too!
How much would it cost me to completely go off grid and replace it with solar? Even if I could afford to cover the top of my house with panels, it probably wouldn’t generate enough electricity to sustain my home.
To replace my current vehicle with a hybrid, not a pure electric, would cost me at least another $10,000. A fully electric car is probably double the cost of my current car, and my electric bill at home would skyrocket AND guess where the power for my house comes from? Not from something clean.
All of the “green” options are simply too expensive and I count myself as someone who makes a decent living. There’s no way folks who struggle from week to week could ever afford anything that would be net-0 on carbon.
“Well that’s why we need more work done on green energy. That’s what the carbon tax is supposed to do isn’t it?”
90% of the tax goes back to taxpayers so the real truth is that only 10% of that money goes into anything even remotely useful for the development of non-carbon based energy solutions.
But again, this does not address the world we live in right now.
Right now, we don’t have a real, affordable green-energy option. Options do exist but they are nowhere as abundant, available, or affordable as that of oil. You can scream all you want about how people can use solar power for their homes and blah blah blah. But the actual truth of the world is that none of those options are really an option at all to the average person. Hybrid cars are a step in the right direction but again, most people don’t drive them because they are too expensive. Same reason why solar panels aren’t as popular as they could be. It costs far too much money to buy and implement them and even when you do, it may not be enough to power your home, or hell, your home might not even be able to use solar because of where your house is positioned.
Plenty of green options exist, but not in the same way that oil has. Regardless of the reasons why it’s like that, the reality is this is the world we live in, like it or not. And until we do, the world has to keep on churning. Which brings me to the point of this post.
People can get mad all they want about how much the oil industry is destroying the world and killing the globe. But until the world has something that we can actually afford to replace it with, we still need oil to keep us going until that day comes.
So to all the climate change folks out there who say we need to stop using oil and switch to green-fuel, if you can provide the world something that can replace oil, is as accessible as oil, cheaper than oil, and as easy to refine as oil, all your screaming and shouting isn’t going to matter because the world needs it right now.
If tomorrow someone said “I invented a box that is powered by a single blade of grass. Plug it into your wall and it will power your home for 30 days. Oh and here’s one you can plug into any gasoline based vehicle and it will produce fuel for a few weeks”, the world would change pretty quick. But I don’t see anyone out there producing something that can easily replace the entire infrastructure system we have today.
And to the oil companies who are so scared of losing what you have, enjoy it while you can. As much as I agree that we need you right now, the views of the world are changing. Find a way to provide what we need now, and help us find a way to provide for us in the future that doesn’t see the world come crashing to a halt.
