Rethinking Lifestyle

I received several responses to my March 30 post entitled, “It is up to us“, which suggested that in order to live more sustainably, we need to reduce our overall consumption and stop burning fossil fuels.

Two responses were very complimentary, with no additional comments.

A third response asked for proof that global warming was caused by human activity. I replied as well as I could, citing James Hansen, NASA scientist; the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); and research done by EXXON in the 1970s. A TED talk featuring James Hansen provides an excellent summary.

A fourth response, verbal and second-hand, was a comment/question which went something like, “God put the oil down there. Surely, he wanted us to use it.” As this may be a common view, I would like to explore that view further.

First, I believe that we have common ground in wanting the best for ourselves, our children, and our neighbours. We could extend that to our children’s descendants and to neighbours worldwide.

Secondly, living sustainably involves many things. Many books have been written on this topic. This article is a mere snippet of that subject, and is directed to the issue of petroleum and climate change.

We have been given an amazing capacity to discover, investigate, invent, and build. We have also been given the capacity to ponder, reflect, and examine the results of these activities. We have the responsibility to correct and improve where we can.

Oil has many uses. Petroleum pervades our current lives: energy, asphalt pavement, materials in house construction, appliances, cars, clothes, computers, phones, toys, containers, snow shovels. The list is very long.

Since the early 1900s, making use of petroleum in many ways was a natural and understandable activity. However, we now know about severe unintended consequences of this.

I think of petroleum use in two general ways: by burning and by using petroleum-based materials without burning. We now know that burning fossil fuels produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that cause an increasing disruption to our climate, including more frequent and more severe storms, widespread weather disruptions, species dislocation and extinction, and dangerous sea level rise, to name just a few. All constitute an urgent threat to our continued existence as a global civilization.

We need to turn largely to using renewable fuels in place of fossil fuels, capture carbon where possible, and reduce our consumption, huge topics all. The transition from our dependence on

fossil fuels to renewable fuels will not easy, but it is essential. The transition will also bring considerable benefits, including reducing pollution of the air we breathe, simpler machinery (affecting cost and maintenance), and ease of use. A battery-operated lawn mower is a joy to operate.

Non-burning uses of petroleum also require our attention. For example, National Geographic provides extensive information on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and its effects on various species of marine life.

Developed countries are the main contributors to climate change, but poorer countries who contribute the least are the most affected by climate change. We have the responsibility to help them out.

We are quick to assist others in times of need, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, crop failures, repression, sickness, and accidents. I see a glimmer of hope in our increasing actions to reduce climate change and to adapt to its effects.