Destructive Investments In Fossil Fuels example essay topic

One of the world's most limited resources, fossil fuels is also one of the biggest industries. Population growth drives the demand for fossil fuel consumption. Unfortunately, the continued exploration for more resources simultaneously destroys the environment. This is brought into interest in the use of fossil fuels. It is realized that there are many trade-offs between the economic development growth in possible ecological and environmental destruction brought by using fossil fuels. Energy production will significantly increase in future to beat the needs of the world population and economic development.

A growth in world population is accompanied by by increased demand it energy. The current world population is 5.8 billion and the most likely prediction shows the world population reading 8.9 billion it just 50 years. Energy consumption could increase buy up to 395 percent based on its growth. Among the 10 countries to have the largest population by 2050 the United States is third only beaten by China and India. All three of these are developed countries.

Developed countries lead the world in energy consumption per capita. The gross domestic product is economic indicator that goes along with many parameters considered to be associated ith the standard of living. The gross domestic product parallels energy consumption, therefore as a whole the country's gross domestic product can be used as indicator for their energy usage. As the world population grows, so will the search for more energy to meet its demands. If fossil fuels remain as the predominant source of the world's production of energy, we will be threatening to exhaust our resources as well as compromising environment that ecological future. Global warming is the most far-reaching effect of our fossil fuel addiction; however, it is only the end result of the destructive process that has larger impacts on the environment and our health.

Every phase of fossil fuel production has a negative impact on our environment. The first part of this begins with exploring for new reserves of oil and gas which results in the construction of roads and other infrastructure in previously undisturbed wilderness. This poses a threat to biological and cultural diversity. The remaining wilderness areas of the world are how to most of the world's traditional indigenous cultures.

With energy corporations come into their land these people are exposed to deadly diseases and environmental pollution, subsistence economies are disrupted and often a process of cultural decay begins. If oil or gas is discovered, the extraction phase begins. This leads to the construction of additional roads and infrastructure. These roads allow loggers, ranchers and displaced peoples and access previously impenetrable forests or wilderness areas leading to further destruction. The extraction process also frequently results in leaks and seepage that caused massive environmental pollution and health problems for local communities. The fossil fuel transportation requires massive pipeline and infrastructure projects that pollute local ecosystems and open up additional territory destructive development.

Fossil fuels are shipped on tankers around the world, sometimes resulting in oil spills and other accidents which devastate marine ecosystems. In many places, the and equitable distribution of oil profits escalates existing social and economic actions, and pipelines and oil facilities become focal point for conflict. In Columbia, guerrillas have bombed the Occidental Pipeline more than eight hundred times, spilling 2.1 billion barrels of oil more than seven times the amount of oil spill by the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska. The next process is the refinement of of petroleum into gasoline. These refineries are often located in low income communities of color. these people face the effects of environmental pollution including unusually high rates of asthma, cancer and other pollution related illnesses. These communities bear the toxic price tag of oil refinement, often paying their lives. finally, fossil fuels are burned in their many uses. this produces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

In the United States 50 percent of our oil goes to transportation most of the used for single occupancy cars which gets stuck on our traffic james freeways. America's new obsession with larger vehicles such as S.U. V's only aggravates this problem. fossil fuels also fuel giant power plants. Whether it's as small as a lawnmower or as large as a power plant, the burning of fossil fuels is the leading cause of global warming. There are two tendencies that define the progress of the energy system. One is rising efficiency and the other is using less carbon. For the past 200 years we have evolved from using wood, to coal, to oil and gas and finally nuclear.

What we really want from our fossil fuels is hydrogen and not carbon. Will become carbon to a hydrogen economy would be a huge environmental and economic challenge, as carbon is widely used as the main fuel in under-developed countries. More than two-thirds of the fuel used currently is to produce electricity. Yet one-third of the population is still without electricity. The installed electricity is produced primarily by coal, gas and oil with hydroelectric and nuclear making up significant amounts. Renewable sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, biomass, and photovoltaic make up less than one percent.

Although the United States leads the world and using renewable sources for electricity that will have to be much larger increases from Wade and solar before they impact the world's totals. Although we have made steps of the right direction eventually funding for fossil fuel exploration must be redirected toward sustainable at renewable energy resources. We have to pressure that corporate financial sector to end destructive investments in fossil fuels. Fossil fuels require investments at every stage of production.

One way to stop this destruction is to pressure that big banks to cut off their investments to global warming industries. We must also and our addiction to fossil fuels for energy before our resources are gone. We must replace funding for fossil fuel projects with funding for sustainable energy sources. We must also terminate the projects which are threatening our indicator forest in the wilderness areas.

And lastly we must integrate comprehensive social and environmental criteria it to all aspects of energy from investments and lending practices to governmental regulations both locally and globally..