Energy, environment, economic, education, lifestyle, and government choices - 2021 John Shanahan July 17, 2021 This essay was inspired by nuclear power organizations and advocates who sound the alarm against fossil fuels. At the website: allaboutenergy.net, we support fossil fuels for all the good they do. Carbon dioxide is the molecule of life, not a catastrophic pollutant. For most of history, people did not have choices of how they live, where they live, where they got drinking water, food, protection from weather, healthcare, education, how they travelled, and what kind of government they had. Only since largescale use of fossil fuels have people had most of these choices. Along with coal, oil, and natural gas come a vast number of beneficial by-products and some negative tradeoffs. People have healthier, longer, happier, and easier lives. There are good opportunities for education, travel, and entertainment. Errors and inefficiencies in use of fossil fuels can/must be corrected. Fossil fuels enabled the elimination of much slavery and indentured servant practices. The world is still not perfect. Not everyone agrees. Most people appreciate today’s standard of living. Many take it for granted. Alarmists and want-to-be dictators want to take away freedom and energy that makes life better. Governments, the media, advertising, education, financial systems, and religions are frequently manipulative. Freedom is not free. Prosperity is not a natural right. Governments are not gods. The environment and life should be appreciated and protected, not plundered. Since the late 1960s, alarmists and certain public officials have gained strong control in many positions in Australia, Europe, and North America. To the advantage of enemies. Abundant energy and good government are the basis of prosperity. See Singapore.
Singapore, a modern city built by use of fossil fuels with no interference from anti-fossil-fuels, catastrophic-globalwarming alarmists. Excellent schools, medical care, economy. Peaceful. Prosperous.
1
Lack of good government and forced abandonment of fossil fuels will lead to poverty, crime, bad schools, weak economies, and homelessness. See USA. Homeless in Seattle, Washington
New York City without electricity
2
Alarmists and their politician and media allies have succeeded in convincing many that fossil fuels and nuclear power are bad, (carbon dioxide and low-dose radiation). They convinced the public and many leaders in nuclear power that CO2 from fossil fuels is a pollutant that is causing catastrophic global warming, “climate change.” Atmospheric CO2 is the basis of the food chain and absolutely essential for all life. Current levels of atmospheric CO2 are close to the minimum for supporting billions of people. Removing it from the atmosphere or taxing it will destroy modern economies. Carbon dioxide artificially sequestered from the atmosphere will be immediately replaced by CO2 outgassing from huge ocean reservoirs. It is pointless, scientifically incorrect Nuclear power leaders and advocates claiming that nuclear power can save the world from a rise in atmospheric CO2 will be exposed for being scientifically and technically wrong. Their expertise in nuclear power questioned. These same nuclear power proponents for generating electricity claim that the whole world can be operating on nuclear power in 50 to 100 years, while they accept alarmism that we only have 10 to 30 years to stop use of fossil fuels, not just for generating electricity, but for all uses. The whole world generating electricity from nuclear power will not happen for far more than 100 years. That is only a fraction of the uses of fossil fuels. See graph below.
Everyone who understands this graph should know that the world is not going to stop using fossil fuels to any significant extent for a long time. They should understand that CO2, the molecule of life does not cause catastrophic climate change. 3