Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Dude! He said "Bye"! Twice!
Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
I am glad we have touched on the fossil fuel subsidy debate as it clearly identifies those individuals who look at issues with a narrow perspective. This subsidy argument can be said about every industry and almost every sector of our economy. Fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas, played a pivotal role in the development of mankind by fueling the Industrial Revolution. These energy sources powered machinery, transportation, and various industries, leading to increased productivity, economic growth, and technological advancements. Fossil fuels provided a more efficient and accessible energy source, shaping modern societies and contributing to the expansion of global trade and communication. Fossil fuels impact on agriculture has been transformative virtually eliminating famine world wide. Modern healthcare would be impossible without fossil fuels. Lastly North America is fully energy self dependent regarding fossil fuels. Reason for these wars not a result of fossil fuel dependence but rather political dogma and evil corrupt bureaucrats.
Some of those things are true, but we're at a point where we can see the harm that fossil fuels causes, such as the elephant in the room called global warming. We now have the technology to START moving in a direction away from fossil fuels. It's to our detriment if we do not. For those of us in the USA to not do anything simply means higher costs for everything, but for those in less developed parts of the world it's resulting in migrations and conflict when people flee areas with little to no resources. It's not fair to put the burden of our gluttonous lifestyle on those who did not cause the problem.
Regarding the wars that we've waged in recent decades you're completely wrong. With the USA it started in a big way with the 1991 war to stabilize Middle Eastern oil producing countries (Desert Storm). I was there, and it was obvious what we were doing. The terrorist acts that followed were a result of our occupation of those countries - there's no denying that. There were many, many conflicts occurring during the same time period, but we didn't get involved with those. We only got involved in those that might be a threat to our gluttonous oil consumption habits here in the USA. (And Panama during the same time period - threat to the Panama canal.)
As a geologist I know that we are NOT fully fossil fuel self-dependant - maybe in the short term, but certainly not long-term. It would be delusional to think otherwise. (Of course most of the oil that we import to the USA comes from Canada, but the price of oil tracks globally - doesn't matter where it comes from.) The only way for us to become fossil fuel independent is to make the transition to EVs - that would do it.