Since the industrial revolution in the 18th century society has depended on burning fossil fuels to power our everyday lives; however, only recently has the world learned about climate change and the adverse effects on the atmosphere and environment. Global warming is a disaster of our own creation, looming over humanity, becoming an exponentially bigger problem every year, while the urgent reforms needed to counteract the pollution in our atmosphere progress too slowly. With our dependence on fossil fuels to power so much, is it possible to ever close down the smokestacks and function on 100% clean energy? Fortunately, the technology to produce clean and renewable energy improves every year with wind, solar, and nuclear power becoming promising alternative fuel sources. Despite public opinion that wind and solar power lack reliability and nuclear power is too dangerous to use, these options have proven their potential to one day replace fossil fuels entirely and that may be someday soon. Since 2006 power generated by coal and petroleum has been in decline while clean sources like nuclear and hydroelectric powers replace them. In fact, all clean energy sources have only expanded in the past decade, including solar power which multiplied by more than 70 times. Furthermore, international recognition of the dangers Global Warming poses lead to “the signing of the landmark Climate Change Agreement in Paris by 194 countries and the EU” (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency), causing carbon emissions to drop in almost every major country. China and the United States alone succeed in “effectively reducing their CO2 emissions over 2015 by 0.7% and 2.6%, respectively” (PBL). If the world continues to work together towards developing renewable energy and protecting the atmosphere from carbon emissions, someday 100% clean energy will power the world.

Global Warming is a destructive force that endangers countless plant and animal species and destroys the environment around them all while going unnoticed. Today it is common knowledge that Global Warming melts the Earth’s poles, these higher temperatures also threaten glaciers, permafrost, and floating sea ice. The media constantly reports on the state of the polar ice caps and the penguins and polar bears that struggle to survive as their homes evaporate; however, most people don’t realize the extent of the damage that Global Warming has inflicted on our planet so far. The effects of climate change can be seen in forms such as increased coastal flooding, severe droughts, powerful hurricanes, longer and more dangerous wildfire seasons, and coral bleaching. With the polar ice caps quickly melting the “global sea level has increased eight inches since 1880”, but the growing temperature “is now accelerating the rate of sea level rise, increasing flooding risks” to coastal and low-lying areas. (Union of Concerned Scientists) On top of flooding and higher sea levels, Global Warming threatens to cause powerful droughts.  Present-day droughts result from weather patterns that typically last only a short time, but as the climate changes and the temperature warms, “the prevalence and duration of drought has increased in the American West”. (UCS) These rising temperatures lead to longer droughts and “increased evaporation and transpiration”, or water evaporating from the ground and plants faster, so the plant life that depends on storing water long term and farms quickly die out. (UCS) Increasingly powerful and destructive hurricanes will also occur as ocean level continues to rise and water temperature increases. The increasing ocean temperature helps support the hurricane as it grows because “The rising of warm, moist air from the ocean helps to power the storm [and] … as the oceans warm … seawater expands”, creating more fuel for the storm. (UCS) Because of these factors “the number of hurricanes that reach Categories 4 and 5 in strength … has roughly doubled” since the 1970’s. (UCS) Storms like Hurricane Matthew grow larger in size from these warmer waters. With more than one third of the U.S. population living in coastal areas, the threat of giant floods and powerful hurricanes put the lives of over 100 million in danger. These disasters are responsible for destroying entire cities, force people out of their homes, and disrupt the food supply. If we want to secure humanity’s future on this planet then major reform is unavoidable, as long as large amounts of carbon dioxide is realized into the atmosphere then side effects like these will only get stronger.

Carbon emissions may seem out of control but we have the technology to power society with clean, renewable energy. The biggest source of carbon emissions comes from burning fossil fuels to create electricity and power our cars. Coal, natural gas, and oil are the biggest producers of carbon dioxide and they are the most important resource to our society; however, to save the environment renewable clean energy must replaces them. Right now, fossil fuels are a cheap, available, reliable and convenient source of energy, that’s why it accounted for 67% of all electricity produced in 2015. Thanks to its availability the dinosaur is still the king of our energy production, but it releases dangerous pollution into our atmosphere while “renewable energy is reliable, affordable, and beneficial for our health, our economy, and our climate” (UCS). The only thing that renewable energy lacks at the moment is the infrastructure, like solar panels and wind turbines but “renewable energy is growing rapidly, with record numbers of new wind and solar installations coming online in the U.S. over the past few years”. (UCS) Thanks to the rapid growth of renewable energy the positive effect on carbon emissions can already be seen. In the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s report on the net electricity generation of each energy source, fossil fuel sources account for less of the United States energy production year after year, coal alone has produced 800,000 less megawatt hours since 2007. With renewables on the rise and fossil fuels on the way to extinction, a future supported by 100% clean energy seems possible. In fact, one country has already accomplished this feat: Norway, famous for Vikings, skiing, and now clean energy. In 2013, Norway turned off its last coal power plant and began producing clean power from only hydro, wind, and solar energy. While Norway has a population of only 5 million people, it proved that clean energy is reliable enough to replace carbon producing power sources. More prominent world powers, such as Google, have also abandoned fossil fuels for clean energy. Last year Google building worldwide and its California headquarters Googleplex “consumed as much energy as the city of San Francisco” and this year “all of that energy will come from wind farms and solar panels”. (Quentin Hardy) Silicon Valley companies like Google taking initiative to build their own clean energy networks takes a significant amount of carbon pollution out of the atmosphere because “about 25 percent of United States electricity goes to businesses, and companies like Google”. (Hardy) Large corporations like Google have the influence to make real change and promote clean power. While the renewable energy industry in the rest of the world produced much of the necessary groundwork for society to one day function free of fossil fuels, many hurdles still block the path to fully realizing the goal of 100% clean energy. 

Although the environment is desperately depending on clean energy succeeding, choosing to abandon fossil fuels might have unforeseen consequences and could plunge the world’s economy into another depression. Since coal, natural gas, and oil provide a major piece of the world’s economy, abandoning them could create trillions of dollars in losses to world governments, investors, and the common people in a scenario similar to the 2007 mortgage crisis. In 2007 banks suffered massive losses when the housing market collapsed, because banks started accepting incredibly risky mortgages that offered low interest rates and mortgages for financially unsecure people. The bubble formed because “all parties involved in creating the housing bubble became convinced that home prices would continue to rise”, banks and investors took on insane amounts of risk that bankrupted them once house prices dropped. (Jeff Holt 125) Astonishing history is repeating itself as the same thing that happened to the housing market in 2007 is happening to the fossil fuel industry today. Because fossil fuels generate tons of wealth for shareholders, “stock markets inflate an investment bubble in fossil fuels to the tune of trillions of dollars” (Damian Carrington). The “carbon bubble is the result of an over-valuation of oil, coal and gas reserves held by fossil fuel companies” since these companies cannot legally harvest or use much of this fuel without violating international carbon regulations that declare “at least two-thirds of these reserves will have to remain underground if the world is to meet existing internationally agreed targets”. (Carrington) Just like in 2007 investors convinced themselves that the value of fossil fuels will continue to climb despite regulations. The stock market mentality says investors should buy stocks right up until the moment that it drops and then sell when the price is highest, creating a bigger and bigger bubble that pops one day, instantly making trillions of dollars’ worth of shares worthless. As soon as a clean, renewable option becomes our primary power source and regulations significantly restrict the amount of carbon fossil fuel companies can release into the atmosphere the carbon bubble pops and trillions of dollars disappear with it. So rather than building millions of solar panels tomorrow and shutting off every fossil fuel plant, the transition to renewable energy needs to happen slowly if we want to avoid another financial crisis. 

While total economic collapse seems like a grim downside to dismantling the fossil fuel industry, the rapid growth of the renewable energy industry could counteract this side effect. Despite the stock market investing trillions of dollars into the fossil fuel industry, “Renewables are poised to seize the crucial top spot in global power supply growth”. (Fatih Birol) In the past renewable energy sources like wind turbines were expensive and ineffective, but “renewable generation costs have declined in many parts of the world due to sustained technology progress, improved financing conditions and expansion of deployment to newer markets with better resources”. (International Energy Agency) With the clean energy industry expanding rapidly and its climbing stock price it is on par to surpass fossil fuels by 2020. At the moment fossil fuels are a massive part of economic growth, but “with excellent hydro, solar and wind resources, improving cost-effectiveness and policy momentum, renewables can play a critical role in supporting economic growth” and fill the void left by fossil fuels. (Birol)

The fossil fuel industry falling apart and dragging the whole economy down with it seems depressing; however, carbon emissions continuing at their current rate isn’t acceptable and puts the world in jeopardy. Most people don’t realize the very important things that the Earth’s north and south pole do for the planet. When solar radiation passes through the earth’s atmosphere it typically bounces off the earth’s surface and reflects back into space. The poles reflect this heat exceptionally well and helps to keep the air cold and the ice frozen. However, as global temperatures rise and more heat enters the atmosphere, it absorbs into the water, melts some of the ice, and “as shrinking sea ice exposes more seawater to sunlight, the ocean absorbs more heat, which in turn melts more ice”. (Russell McLendon) While the Arctic Ocean is incredible cold, the air above is colder, and the Sea Ice “acts as insulation between the two, limiting how much warmth radiates up”. (McLendon) In addition to heat held underneath the ice caps, the ice itself contains “large, frozen deposits of methane, posing a climate risk if they thaw and release the potent greenhouse gas” that in response further heats the atmosphere. (McLendon) It’s possible to continue burning fossil fuels into the distant future with oil or gas deposits still abundant but “global warming will eventually melt all the ice at the poles and on the mountaintops, raising sea level by 216 feet”. (National Geographic)

With 216 feet of extra water in the oceans maps would look a lot different. In the United States the east coast would disappear, the ocean completely flooding Boston, New York, Washington D.C, Charleston, and the entire state of Florida. On the west coast Los Angeles would be submerged, San Francisco becomes a tiny chain of islands, and San Diego would be gone without a trace, but solving their drought in the process. Internationally, massive cities like Tokyo, Seoul, London, Baghdad, and Rome would all require a sailboat to reach. The canals of Venice overflow and the bayou swallows the rest of New Orleans. In China “land now inhabited by 600 million Chinese would flood, as would all of Bangladesh, population 160 million”. (National Geographic) Although the fossil fuel industry is a carbon bubble waiting to pop with the potential to cripple the world’s economy, not abandoning them promises a future where eight of the world’s ten largest cities are gone forever. Trying to imagine the amount of money and resources lost with flooding this intense is near impossible, but it’s certainly higher than a stock crashing. There is roughly 650 million people living just in these 8 cities that would make the Syrian Refugee Crisis with only 10 million people look like a family picnic. This giant migration of people would be forced to relocate owning next to nothing because the ocean ate their home. This 650 is just the tip of the iceberg with millions of other recently homeless people to consider. Economically it’s impossible to support that many people, in 2016 the United States only admitted 13,210 out of 10 million Syrian refugees, about .001 percent. In this refugee crisis the United States would need to take roughly 860,000 people to reach the same .001%, more people than currently living in San Francisco. If we chose to switch to clean energy the economy will suffer for a while dismantling the fossil fuel industry, but if neglected, Global Warming will wipe out centuries of work and dislocate billions. 

Fortunately for us we may never have to face a tragedy like this that would destroy all of our beautiful South Carolina beaches. Across the world people’s eyes are opening to just how dangerous and real climate change is. Around the clock dedicated environmentalists like Elon Musk, Theodore Roosevelt, and Al Gore work tirelessly to promote carbon free options to the world and protect endangered wildlife. Currently coal and natural gas power 70% percent of the United States, employ thousands of people, and strengthen the economy but nothing is stopping solar wind and water power from doing the same one day. Closing down large fossil fuel corporations once renewable energy grows strong enough to take its place will strain the economy but just like always, it eventually recovers. To make the world a better place for future generations the proper action needs to be taken now. Solar panels and wind turbines need to become the energy of the future because without them the future won’t be pleasant, and someday, I want my very own penguin. 
