Energy Solutions
We need to find new ways of producing energy; that much is clear. Coal is too dirty, our oil reserves are fast dwindling, and there wasn't that much natural gas to begin with. Aside from that, the methods we currently have of getting energy from these sources are inefficient and not environmentally friendly. These are the problems we face; while we must have energy, we are destroying our environment to get it, and we are fast running out of viable means to generate it.
Understanding the situation is vital to solving the problem. The things that we currently burn to create energy are non-renewable resources; that is, they have a finite supply. The process that originally created our energy sources takes millions of years, and at the rate we are consuming them, we have a century, perhaps two, before they are gone. When they are exhausted, if we do not have alternatives, we are, in a word, screwed.
What brought us to this state? For millennia man burned wood to create energy and lived fine lives. The cause, then, is industrialization. When industry began mass-producing things, they needed more and more ways to produce larger amounts of energy. Electricity also helped; everyone wanted lights and heat and air and all the things that go along with having electricity. These things are not bad in and of themselves, but when you have entire countries wanting them, the strain it puts on the energy-producing companies continues to grow, and they continue burning more fuel, creating more pollution and using up more resources. It's a vicious cycle and it needs to stop.
The big problem is: how do we stop it? We cannot stop producing energy; too much of the world depends on electricity for survival. Frankly, we cannot even make less energy than we are now; the world population continues to grow, and more countries become developed every year. Even if Americans (the biggest energy users) cut back their usage, other countries still need to keep growing.
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