The On Fossil Fuels And The Amish - 1594 Words

As we continue to consume fossil fuels on a scale never seen in human history, we are faced with the nagging but not imminent question: what is going to happen when we run out? It’s the same question any addict asks themselves, and the way they respond can affect the rest of their life. It is impossible to forget 2008: gasoline rose to nearly $4 a gallon, the stock market plummeted, millions lost their jobs, and Americans and foreigners alike responded in a way that only the fear of spending more money can motivate. Why are we as a global society so hooked on fossil fuels? Put simply, we can’t live without it. Few people-- outside of aspiring reality TV stars and the Amish-- would be willing to give up their precious electronics and†¦show more content†¦Mansueto Ventures, LLC, 13 Nov. 2014. Web. 04 June 2015.)-- we would not only outgrow the earth’s resource limits, but we would need 5.4 earths to sustain humanity. Without access to fuel, industry is hindered. The time it takes to travel from point a to point b increases tremendously if there is a limit to the amount of fuel that one has access to. In the 1970’s during an â€Å"oil crisis†, gas stations limited customers to 10 gallons each. The need to stop at more gas stations more often will increase shipping time, decrease productivity, and hinder new nations in their development and entrance into the postmodern marketplace. The origin of the energy crisis stems from the days of the industrial revolution. Coal and Oil were more efficient than wood, and seemingly abundant across the globe. At one point, the ash from factories in Great Britain was so profuse that it turned the bark of trees a different color and caused the species of peppered moth to alter their coloration in fast-paced phenotypic evolution. Expand the scenario where human energy consumption and the subsequent alteration of climate exceeds the rate at which animals and biomes can adapt is a terrifying and very real one. A growing disparity between rich nations and poorer developing countries due to the rate at which technology is being adopted and economic maneuvering power No matter how hard we try, the effects of pollution are everywhere. From major catastrophes like theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Environmental Ethics2347 Words   |  10 Pagesstarted in the industrial revolution and the discovery of oil The need to improve the quality of life resulted in the construction of factories to mass produce products for consumers. These factories were powered by fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The combustion of these fossil fuels emitted great quantities of pollutants that remain in the Earths atmosphere to this day and is the number one cause of global warming. However, in ethics one cannot evaluate just one thing. In ethics, as in natureRead MoreEssay on Persuasion Speech / Eating Local Ann Arbor1140 Words   |  5 Pagescancer and other health problems in lab animals. People have been eating food produced this way since the early 1990’s, most folks don’t even know this exists. What might it do to us? a. Conventional farmers use chemical fertilizers made from fossil fuels that they mix with the dirt to make plants grow. They do this because they have stripped the soil from all its natural nutrients from growing the same crop over and over again. b. Next the more harmful chemicals, Pesticides and herbicidesRead MoreAlternating Current and Electricity1862 Words   |  8 Pageselectrical generation. The majority of domestic electricity generation has been from burning fossil fuels Ââ€" coal and oil Ââ€" to produce steam, which spins turbines connected to generators. The primary problem with this method of producing electricity is that it relies on non-renewable energy sources; when fossil fuels become scarce, we will face an energy crisis (Steyn, 2006). Additionally, the waste products from fossil fuel plants have been proven to be very harmful to the environment. Since the 1960s, there