Not oil

Once again the people  are on the streets protesting about the effect of fossil fuels on the climate. Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist has been arrested and I wonder if this will do more to support their case or harden attitudes. Remember though that most of the benefits we take for granted have been achieved through protest.  

Sometimes I think the arguments for climate change and the need to switch away from fossil fuels are just too obtuse for people to get their heads round. As far as most of us can see, oil has always been there. Yes, the weather has got a bit warmer but nicer summers wouldn’t be a bad thing. The timescales of the changes are just beyond the length of our attention spans and this allows us and politicians to kick the can down the road. Somehow it has become pragmatic to procrastinate. If man made climate change is real, it will be someone else’s problem to deal with.

There are better arguments however, ones which, in my opinion, are easier to swallow. The first is that oil, in particular, has become weaponized, that is if it wasn’t already. We have seen with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine how countries were held to ransom by oil producing nations. Not all countries that produce the stuff are bad, yet many countries that we in the West would consider to be bad, are. We end up trading with those who we would rather not and when things take a turn for the worse, our world is turned upside down. We are then forced to make a decision on energy needs which go against our ethical values. 

Such is life, yet moving away from fossil fuels swings power away from the oil producing countries towards those with other natural resources, wind, solar, tidal etc. By reducing your dependence on oil you are helping develop the country’s future energy security. The more people who move away from oil, the cheaper renewables will become.

The second argument is that oil is going to run out eventually. We are acutely aware that the fields in the North Sea won’t be around for much longer, the last licences have been issued and the fields  have already given us more than was expected. Each year, the global cost of extraction increases and it will not be long before it costs more energy to extract oil than we will get back by burning it.

What are we going  to do then? Far better to start planning now by weaning ourselves off the stuff. It’s not just fuel though, oil is so embedded in our lives that it will be a difficult habit to break. Nearly everything we use has oil in it somewhere from the food we eat to the clothes we wear.

I’m not suggesting that we forget climate change, especially as storm Babet rages outside but it is too global a concept for us humans to take in. It is far better to deal in things that people can get their heads around.