San Francisco Public Library

Fossil future, why global human flourishing requires more oil, coal, and natural gas--not less, Alex Epstein

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Fossil future

bibliography

1259510961

Alex Epstein

why global human flourishing requires more oil, coal, and natural gas--not less

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels draws on the latest data and new insights to challenge everything you thought you knew about the future of energy For over a decade, philosopher and energy expert Alex Epstein has predicted that any negative impacts of fossil fuel use on our climate will be outweighed by the unique benefits of fossil fuels to human flourishing--including their unrivaled ability to provide low-cost, reliable energy to billions of people around the world, especially the world's poorest people. And contrary to what we hear from media "experts" about today's "renewable revolution" and "climate emergency," reality has proven Epstein right: Fact: Fossil fuels are still the dominant source of energy around the world, and growing fast-while much-hyped renewables are causing skyrocketing electricity prices and increased blackouts. Fact: Fossil-fueled development has brought global poverty to an all-time low. Fact: While fossil fuels have contributed to the 1 degree of warming in the last 170 years, climate-related deaths are at all-time lows thanks to fossil-fueled development. What does the future hold? In Fossil Future, Epstein, applying his distinctive "human flourishing framework" to the latest evidence, comes to the shocking conclusion that the benefits of fossil fuels will continue to far outweigh their side effects-including climate impacts-for generations to come. The path to global human flourishing, Epstein argues, is a combination of using more fossil fuels, getting better at "climate mastery," and establishing "energy freedom" policies that allow nuclear and other truly promising alternatives to reach their full long-term potential. Today's pervasive claims of imminent climate catastrophe and imminent renewable energy dominance, Epstein shows, are based on what he calls the "anti-impact framework"-a set of faulty methods, false assumptions, and anti-human values that have caused the media's designated experts to make wildly wrong predictions about fossil fuels, climate, and renewables for the last fifty years. Deeply researched and wide-ranging, this book will cause you to rethink everything you thought you knew about the future of our energy use, our environment, and our climate"--, Provided by publisher

To readers of the moral case for fossil fuels -- Ignoring benefits -- Catastrophizing side-effects -- The anti-impact framework -- Our unnaturally livable fossil-fueled world -- The unique and expanding cost-effectiveness of fossil fuels -- Alternatives: distortions versus reality -- The enormous power of fossil-fueled climate mastery -- The problem of systematic climate distortion -- Rising CO2 levels: the full context -- Maximizing flourishing through energy freedom -- Reframing the conversation and arguing to 100