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When evaluating what to do with a product or technology (for example, a prescription drug), we must carefully weigh the benefits and side effects of our alternatives.
This is a common sense principle that most people agree with, but few people follow it when it comes to one technology in particular: fossil fuels.
Instead, many people, following the lead of our media's favorite “experts,” obsess over the negative effects of fossil fuels on the climate while ignoring their enormous positive aspects, such as the fact that oil-powered equipment and natural gas fertilizers are crucial to feeding 8 billion people.
Freshly harvested wheat is transferred from a combine to a trailer near Dinsmore, Saskatchewan, Canada, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022. (Heywood Yu/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
I have long argued that global human flourishing requires more fossil fuels, not less, in the future. But I have found that most of my disagreement with my skeptics (and therefore most of the opportunity for persuasion) lies not in scientific facts or political beliefs, but in our basic method of thinking.
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I've found that if I can get someone to agree that we need to think about fossil fuels in a balanced way (carefully weighing both the benefits and the side effects), they're much more likely to be receptive to any data I share with them.
Below are 21 phrases I use to get people thinking about fossil fuels in a balanced way. In my experience, starting conversations about fossil fuels with these phrases is the best way to turn naysayers into supporters and supporters into advocates. Give them a try!
1. Most “experts” analyze the negative aspects of fossil fuels but ignore their enormous positive aspects.
For example, climate scientist Michael Mann's book on fossil fuels and climate does not once mention the essential benefit of fossil fuel use for food availability, even though 8 billion people rely on diesel machinery and natural gas fertilizers for food!
2. Many “experts” ignore that much of the world would starve without natural gas-derived fertilizers.
8 billion people depend on diesel machinery and natural gas fertilizers to eat (iStock)
3. Many “experts” ignore that much of the world would starve without oil-powered agricultural machinery.
4. Focusing on the negatives and ignoring the positives of any technology is deadly.
The more crucial technology is to human life, the more dangerous it is to ignore its positive aspects.
5. If we only focused on the negative aspects of antibiotics and ignored the positive ones, billions of people would die.
The prospect of banning antibiotics sounds so irrational that no one seriously discusses it, yet that is exactly what many “experts” advocate when it comes to fossil fuels.
6. When deciding what to do with fossil fuels, we must be balanced and look at both the negative and positive aspects.
It is particularly crucial to weigh the negative climate side effects of continued fossil fuel use against the climate-control benefits they bring, as those benefits can offset or outweigh the negative ones, for example: more energy to power heating and cooling, irrigation, construction, etc.
7. Fossil fuels have an impact on the climate, but even then we must consider both the positive and negative aspects.
8. We cannot just watch as global warming increases heat waves; we must also consider the lives saved from the cold.
Fossil fuels have saved lives when freezing temperatures affect millions of people. (AP Agency)
9. A huge and overlooked climate benefit we get from fossil fuels is the ability to master climate hazard.
10. Fossil fuel-based cooling allows us to drastically reduce the danger of heat.
11. Fossil fuel heating allows us to drastically reduce the danger of cold.
12. Irrigation with fossil fuels allows us to drastically reduce the risk of drought.
Any contribution of rising CO2 to drought has been outweighed by fossil fuel-fired crop irrigation and transportation, which has helped reduce drought deaths by more than 100-fold over 100 years as CO2 levels have risen.
13. Fossil fuel-powered evacuation systems allow us to dramatically reduce the danger of storms.
Aftermath of Tropical Storm Henri in Massachusetts (Aftermath of Tropical Storm Henri in Massachusetts)
14. Fossil fuel-based climate dominance has helped us become more climate-safe than ever before.
15. The climate mortality rate has decreased by 98% over the last century as fossil fuel use has increased.
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16. Unfortunately, most “experts” ignore the positive aspects of fossil fuels for the climate, including climate dominance.
17. The IPCC’s 1,000-plus page climate reports ignore all the ways fossil fuels increase climate security.
That's like a report on polio omitting the polio vaccine!
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in a neighborhood in Karachi, Pakistan, on January 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
18. When weighing the positive and negative aspects of fossil fuels, we must be precise, not exaggerate or invent.
19. Unfortunately, many “experts” exaggerate the negative aspects of fossil fuels while ignoring the positive aspects.
Most “experts” ignore the well-documented positive aspects of rising CO2, such as global greening.
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20. Al Gore describes 20 feet of sea level rise as imminent, when extreme UN projections are 3 feet/100 years.
Former US Vice President Al Gore (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
21. If we carefully weigh the positive and negative aspects of fossil fuels, it is clear that we need more of them.
See my book “Fossil Future” for the full argument.
I'd love to hear how these lines work for you! You can reach me at [email protected].
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