Fossil fuels, non-renewable energy sources such as coal, coal products, natural gas,
derived gas, crude oil, petroleum products and non-renewable wastes, are very bad for the
environment. Fossil fuels have been used all around the world for a very long time. They are
usually made up of convenient sources that are very common. These worked for a while;
however, these fuels were slowly eating away at our planet: harming our ozone, our air,
animals, plants, and even ice caps. Fossil fuels could be the root of our downfall, just below our
noses. If we don’t stop them now, what will our world look like?
derived gas, crude oil, petroleum products and non-renewable wastes, are very bad for the
environment. Fossil fuels have been used all around the world for a very long time. They are
usually made up of convenient sources that are very common. These worked for a while;
however, these fuels were slowly eating away at our planet: harming our ozone, our air,
animals, plants, and even ice caps. Fossil fuels could be the root of our downfall, just below our
noses. If we don’t stop them now, what will our world look like?
COP 28 is the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, from November 30th until December 12th, 2023. They are divided on if we
should continue to use fossil fuels as we have been. It produces about 80% of the world’s energy,
but it is the leading cause of climate change, as well. So, we have two choices: continue to
damage our world and improve our industries, or stop using fossil fuels and find an alternative.
At the very least, we should try and reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use. I am not saying we
should switch to electric because there are cons to both sides of the spectrum. We need to
focus on finding a way to reduce the entire use of fossil fuels that will continue to damage our
climate. Currently 80 countries want to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Sultan Al-Jaber, the
president of COP 28, said that the reduction and complete stoppage of using fossil fuels was
inevitable.
Progress is being made toward stopping the use of fossil fuels. African nations said that
they could support a stoppage of fossil fuels if wealthy countries agreed and did so first. A large
issue with deciding one day fossil fuels should not be used is the fact that many power plants
emit a large amount of emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally we could not decide to
simply stop using them immediately because we need them to run in order to continue many
industries and power our communities. There are carbon capture technologies, according to diplomats, but these
are expensive, and are not at a high enough scale to contain the level of emissions we have to
contain. The UN’s climate science panel believes that by 2050 climate change will only get
worse from fossil fuels and carbon capture will only do so much. The U.S and EU both support
plans to lower emissions like cement and steel. Right now, due to large emissions, we are 1.2
celsius above what we should be, we should be at 1.5 celsius, but we are at 2.7 celsius. The use
of oil was also spoken about by Canadian climate minister Steven Guilbeault. He believes it to
be inevitable that the use of oil will be reduced over time. Similar to many of these things, use
must be limited, reduced, or stopped.
Fossil fuels will forever be an issue in our world, as we have used them for so long. They
were convenient, and seemed perfect for what we needed. But, over time, these resources
became dangerous to us and our world. However we still have a chance to stop this. Despite
the fact that we have already damaged our world, we can stop it. If we use renewable energy
and stop using fuels that damage our world, we will be safe.
