Why You Should Love Fossil Fuel
Economy | Information | History | Online | Facts | World | Global | Money
Every year on Earth Day we learn how bad humanity's economic development is for the health of the planet. But maybe this is the wrong message. Maybe we should instead reflect on how human progress, even use of fossil fuels, has made our environment cleaner and healthier. Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress explains. Read more about this issue in Alex Epstein's book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. You can buy a copy at the Prager University book store. Go here. http://bit.ly/1OZUfc9 You can support PragerU by clicking https://www.classy.org/checkout/donation?eid=60079 Free videos are great, but to continue producing high-quality content, contributions -- even small ones -- are greater. Do you shop on Amazon? Now you can feel even better about it! Click http://smile.amazon.com/ch/27-1763901 and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Charity made simple. Visit us directly! https://www.prageru.com LIKE us! https://www.facebook.com/prageru Follow us! Twitter: https://twitter.com/prageru Instagram: https://instagram.com/prageru/ If you are an educator and are interested in using material like this in your classroom, click https://www.prageru.com/educators
Comments
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This video smells like money and corruption.
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We just advanced in knowledge and technology so our lives are better but it doesn't mean that fossil fuels are the reason for it or that they will help us in the future
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We are on the verge of a sixth mass extinction event: global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, destruction of natural habitat, ocean contamination, sea level rise, increased natural disasters are causing all species to go extinct 100× faster than before , tell me again how the planet is getting cleaner and safer?
Even if you're not concerned about the safety of our planet and just want to think of a cheaper power source, fossil fuel is still not the answer. Renewable energy only consists of the installment charge which means its would require huge investment at the beginning, but once its set up it'll keep running for decades without having to be fed or maintained. It will save a lot of money in the long run. Its been estimated that the installment cost of solar panels on an average household would equal only about ten years of its utility bill. And by the way, isn't it estimated that the world will run out of all fossil fuels within this century? Which means at the end of the day you are bound to choose renewable energy, right? Why is this point so heavily overlooked? -
There's a lot of truth in this video, and it is great to live now. Even someone with very little wealth lives better than a king did 100 years ago, at least in the developed world. On the small scale, we've made great progress, and we've gone a long way in making our own habitats cleaner and safer, a huge accomplishment. But there isn't one mention of climate change in the video - it only describes the most tangible effects since the beginning of the industrial revolution, which are pretty great, but we do need to have more foresight about the planet at large, and industry needs to own the impact and stop trying to take attention away from the problem.
Industry can still flourish while converting to sustainable energy sources. Actually, there's huge money in it - the only problem is that right now fossil fuel companies have pretty much all of the current wealth and market share, while renewables are just starting out. So it's not even industry at large, it's one particular (albeit large) component, and they're gripping on to growth like their livelihood depended on it.
Well, I think it's safe to say that all the top oil tycoons are pretty much set for life at this point, no matter what happens. The mindset fueling what we're seeing with the intermingling of industry and politics is unfortunately one of greed, and they've been so successful that in many circles, pressing an accusation of greed is synonymous with being a communist (or some other radical affiliation), or just a "taker". They've got it backward; these industries are taking away the future for profit today, and to be concerned doesn't take that much foresight. People should take pride in the technological advancements of humanity over the course of history, but we shouldn't let industry do whatever they want with the environment, because we already know their motives. -
While I agree with most of Prager's videos, I have to disagree with parts of this one. Because of industry, the Ohio river which is a huge river, is so toxic that we are told not to eat fish from it at all. I have personally seen fish with extra eyes and tails. The reason? All the chemical plants along the river. I have lived in Parkersburg West Virginia and Belpre OH. There was a leak of C-8 (a horrible cancer causing chemical used in the production of Teflon) into the local watershed. For years, the culprit, Dupont, was ordered to supply water to all residents within a large area near their chemical plant that were affected. Eventually, Dupont took the case back to court so they wouldn't have to supply water anymore. My father and many others I know are now living with this chemically polluted water. They have no choice. Real Estate prices have plummeted and once again, big industry has beaten the little guy. It's no different down here two and a half hours south in Coal country. The chemical companies of Charleston WV that supply the coal companies with products have spilled into the Elk and Kanawha rivers. A couple of years ago, my wife and I had to spend two weeks traveling 30 miles to get fresh water from a spring so we would have drinkable water. So did many thousands of others... And we live 45 miles from where the spill happened. Down here in the valleys of Southern West Virginia, coal impoundment slurry ponds routinely fail and spill into local streams and watersheds...killing fish and making water toxic. We have an EXTREMELY high rate of cancer, leukemia and even ALS here compared with the rest of the country. ....... And are these industrial problems local and small scale? Just ask the former residents of Pripyat near the Chernobyl nuclear facility in Russia or those who had to abandon everything on Three Mile Island when there was a nuclear spill there or even the more recent earthquake caused accident at the Fukishama nuclear facility in Japan. If you think these accidents are only hurting people with radiation on local levels, I would suggest you do some research and look at the maps associated with where the jet stream and waterways are carrying this radioactivity. ............ Like I said... I agree with most of the Prager videos... But this one is so biased it isn't funny. Prager could do a much better job if they worried a little less about money and a little more about people. Jobs and money mean nothing when you are dead... Just sayin'...
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I do not agree!! If you say that fossil fuels are so good, why is there an ozone hole?? Why are we facing deforestation on an excessive scale?? This is a very bad video.
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All of this is nice and all, but fossil fuels aren't a long term solution for energy, that's why people are concerned. I like looking at the good side of life, but we shouldn't be optimist. We also shouldn't be pessimist! We should be realist. So yes, our lives our amazing, but we need to keep it amazing for our children and the world to come.
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China.
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I prefer fusion its best
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Next time someone asks me for an example of a straw man argument I will refer them to literally any Prager U video
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I don't know for how long... Decades? At least for decades I haven't heard a sane voice addressing this issue. No, less than two decades ago I remember an article by a specialist crushing the Greenpeace organization for yapping and never actually doing anything and praising the industry that develops industry standards that lead to cleaner, safer and better environment.
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But why? legitimately if humans are about changing the environment to their befit we should not use fossil fuels as they are very inefficient. We should should switch to green energy such as solar power. This is because fossil fuels do have comparative offsets to solar power. In layman's terms fossil fuels to firewood is as solar panels to fossil fuel. So this whole "mastering ecology" is honestly BS as best explained by Jurassic park logic. The entire environment has too many variables and we can't track hem all. So natural misequlibrium and equilibrium in ecosystems is a result of the most stable form of the environment. So when humans add or change variables such as the amount of C02 in the environment or having animals in large congregations. Well, No shit Sherlock, rivers get polluted and bad stuff happens. Therefore Mastering the environment would take a lot of work (which could be directed to better places) and we would have to maintain it. (which would cost money) Also this video is very pessimistic of the environment it gives us food ,shade,protection against flooding.so removing the environment means we would have to take the role that the environment has in helping us. So sure fossil fuels managed to help enrich our lives but they were just the battery. Innovation is what truly improves Standard of living not fossil fuels.
Humanity's civ = 0.7 -
All those does not mean that pollution is ok and oil is good, it just means that we live better than 200 years ago.
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Fossil fuels have been fantastic in the last 100 years for the development of our species, there is not question about it. But, we've became overly reliant on them; just because something provides benefit doesn't mean we should overindulge. Whatever happened to finding a grey area between the two extremes?
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I've never seen anything so misleading and full of propaganda in my life
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Unsustainable.
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ah liberals, putting their hands over their ears when hearing that fossil fuels have benefitted mankind.
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Global Warming = Scam
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I can argue that the batteries in my flashlight are the most effective way to power it. I can argue that adopting a rechargeable battery is a waste of money given the presence of the existing battery. I cannot, however, uphold my argument when my failure to invest in a renewable energy source results in no usable energy after my temporary battery finally goes out. In fact, I believe that I will not only have an argument, but will furthermore be convinced that my own blatant ignorance is possibly counter-productive to my own survival.
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And why are industrial countries the place to be? Because second and third world countries do all the dirty work and because we send all our toxins over there.
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