Fossil Fuels writing

We have been doing writing on our given topic, sustainability. We got to choose between the four following topics...

- Should we bottle our water?
- Should we ban fossil fuels?
- Is zero waste Possible?
And something else I can't remember.
 Here is my piece on Should we ban fossil fuels?

                                                            FOSSIL FUELS

Earth. A desolate wasteland, mining holes everywhere. No fuel left. No energy. This is future Earth. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in 5 years…. Maybe not 10, or 20, or 50. But it will happen one day if we do not ban mining for fossil fuels. We are drilling our vulnerable planet; pumping it for resources. However, we are consuming these faster than they are renewing, steadily polluting our atmosphere and not considering the alternatives. Can we ban fossil fuels before it's too late?

Banning fossil fuels would decrease our consumption rate, but what would we be banning? Fossil Fuels; a natural fuel in the state of coal, oil, or gas formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms. These living organisms died 200 - 400 million years ago. This means we are continuously drilling for resources that are taking FAR too long to renew. So approximately how much fossil fuels are we consuming? In 2016 the US drained a total of 7.19 billion barrels of petroleum products. That's 81% of the US’s total energy utilisation. An average of 19.63 million BPD. It’s often claimed that we have enough fossil fuels left to last us hundred’s of years. But if we step up the gap left through depleting oil and gas reserves, the coal deposits we know about will only take us as far as 2088; it’s obvious we need to stop.

So does 2088 mark the point when we run out of fossil fuels? No, we will probably discover more deposits, However, unless we convert to renewable resources now, it will be. Alternative options include the wind, solar, biomass, wave & tidal energy. Wind power is a process which harnesses electricity from air currents using wind turbines. Biomass is derived from organic matter of plants and animals. Tidal power and wave power is taken from ocean tides. Tidal energy is a great alternative as it is more predictable than wind or solar.

In addition to being non-renewable, fossil fuels create air pollution. Fossil fuels release harmful carbon dioxide emissions into our vulnerable atmosphere. Carbon dioxide acts like a big blanket trapping the heat from the sun's rays in our air.  This is the cause for our rising temperatures. Rising temperatures are not only affecting our power but impacting many climate change issues. Examples of these include acidification, permafrost, melting polar ice caps, ozone depletion and much more.

Every single time you hop in the car instead of walking you are helping to deteriorate the earth, in more ways than one. However, there are safe, abundant alternatives which are renewable.There is an end date to fossil fuels, Help save the world & Make a difference today. Let’s ban fossil fuels and live in nature's budget.