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Many of us take our vacations not on sunny beaches, but with our comrades at muddy pipeline construction sites, risking a stay in the local jailhouse. Meanwhile, Exxon’s glossy yearly report foresees a never-ending oil and gas-powered Utopia; the Gallup pollsters ask Americans to rank their top 15 worries for the future - and Climate Change comes in at number 14; our climate-saving bill doesn’t ever reach the floor of the House; and the CO2 concentration climbs past 400ppm without a pause. Is ours a lost cause? What are we doing wrong?
This essay weighs in on these and other questions with the fresh eyes of a seasoned Mechanical Engineer, Ed Prell, who reminds us that we are powerfully addicted to the “modern miracles” we access via the outlets and thermostats on our walls and the pump hoses at our gas stations. Behind our walls and those gas hoses is a gargantuan supply line which will need to be fundamentally transformed in a few short decades if we are to survive. That entails not only phasing out the greenhouse gas emitters, but ramping up our new zero-emission sources to elbow their way onto a smartly evolving power grid. Will the fossil energy industry, history’s largest and most profitable business, obligingly step aside, or does it have an ace up its sleeve? What about their investors and employees? Can the world’s economic system and social fabric sustain the seismic shocks of such a reshuffling?
Snappy answers will not be found in this essay. Like a splash of cold water, it shocks us into awareness of the unprecedented feats we humans must perform if we are to survive. Backed up with over 160 source references, it alerts us to overlooked hazards and opportunities. It inspires old climate warriors to persist, and new volunteers to step forward. It leaves us with the confidence that our daunting mission will succeed. Why? Because there is no other option.