Climate Change is Just a Part of the Real Goal, Which is?

Solving climate change will be solve if we focus on this particular goal…

The goal is to be 100% free of oil and coal. The goal is to be 100% free of oil and coal; this point isn't drilled enough. Take any handful of supporters of climate change solutions and you'll get mixed results: the goal is to save the polar bears, the goal is to save the arctic ice, the goal is to prevent a nuclear attack... While these are all very worthy goals they share one common umbrella goal, which is the father of all these goals: the goal is to be 100% free of oil and coal. As China and India have shown this goal is not economically feasible, not at the moment. We need to make it economically feasible. Whether we set up a carbon cap and trade scheme or not, the goal must be met. Why we need to be fossil fuel free:

The first reason to be fossil fuel free is climate change. Take your pick: Polar ice melting, loss in biodiversity, extinction of polar bears, decreasing national security, decreasing public health, shrinking economy, job losses, strain due to large climate change caused migrations, the loss of the rainforests, increased drought and food shortages, drinkable water shortages- the list goes on and on. All caused by burning fossil fuels thereby increasing carbon emissions.

The second reason to be fossil fuel free is that we're going to be out of fossil energy in the not too distant future. Imagine an abrupt halt on everything going on in the world. An abrupt halt in lighting, heating, transportation, the internet, hospitals, patient care, cancer research, refrigeration of foods, etc - it all comes to a screeching halt. There is no doubt our world is run off of energy and as of right now coal, oil, and gasoline are all to disappear in a manner of centuries. We could procrastinate and begin solutions in the distant future. Sure, let's put up the solar panels then, but using what energy source? We need energy (fossil fuel) to make energy (renewables: solar, wind, hydropower, tidal and non-renewable nuclear).

We are at the start of the problem. We see it coming. We must act. The first step will be to increase energy efficiency. The second step will be to replace oil and gas. This stands to be the biggest challenge to overcome, as the natural path for business is the path of least resistance. That is to say, the most efficient path for a business to follow has to be the most cost effective and now and the indefinite future that path is fossil fuel. Step three will be to replace the non-renewable energy sources with renewable energy; and in order to do that we'll require a new infrastructure (smart grids, electric car charge stations, public transport) and energy storage technology (hydrogen fuel cells). There's a lot to do, but we’ll need to keep in mind the goal. What's the goal again? The goal is to be 100% free of oil and coal.

Fight Off Climate Change Skeptics With: Which Energy is not Formed from the Sun?

Fight off climate change skeptics by confusing them with the truth, ask: Which energy is not from the sun. It’s not fossil fuels.

Fun ways to stump a climate change skeptic. Skeptics like to halt climate change action by claiming "green is a religion" and use misinformation to build confusion. When coming across a climate change skeptic, the conversation will go nowhere, so you might as well have some fun trying to be educational. If you're in that situation ask them: excluding nuclear, which energy source does not come from the sun? Most forms of fuel/energy on the earth are derived from the sun. The sun itself is not a renewable energy source. It is destined to burn out and become a red giant, the kind of star that will run on helium fusion instead of hydrogen fusion; the sun at this size would engulf the Earth and global warming would take on a whole new meaning (in 5B years). For now, the sun is still the mother of all energy- except for one.

Oil, coal, and gas come from the sun; they are all forms of organic matter that decomposed. This organic material was once plants that captured the energy of the sun through photosynthesis or were organisms that ate these plants. The 'fossil' in the term 'fossil fuel' comes from the masses of microorganisms (phytoplankton and zooplankton) that died and were buried in the ocean (dinosaur fossils can also be potentially in the mix). The high pressures of the buried after-life combined with high heat transformed the organic matter, fusing it with minerals, thus creating oil and natural gas. Coal is most likely from decomposed plants.

Solar energy is the easiest to understand its sunny origins. Sunlight hits a solar panel and the chemical structure of the panel allows electrons to move producing an electrical current. Hook panels up to some batteries or an electric grid and there's instant power.

Wind is also sun energy. Wind is caused by the pressure differences on the surface of the planet. The poles are cold, the tropics are warm; what heats the tropics of course is the sun. More precisely: heat rises at the equator, where it is warmed by the sun, and it heads for the poles to reach a balance. On the surface of the earth the cooler air heads to the equator. The lateral spinning of the earth creates the Coriolis Effect which spins the wind in the east and west directions.

Tidal & Hydropower. Hydropower comes from dams and tidal from the ocean. These would be gravitational sources of power and therefore the only supply not derived from the sun. Hydropower allows water to build pressure behind a dam, when the water is released it will spin a turbine to form electricity. Tidal is a little more interesting, but the effect is the same, water pushed up by the tide will turn a turbine when the tide falls, thus producing electricity. There you go, fight the confusion of climate change skeptics with education, but best to avoid them when possible.