Nothing to Fear: A Bright Future for Fossil Fuels

Nothing to Fear explains why mankind has the ability to withstand nearly everything mother nature may throw at it, so long as mankind doesn’t institute policies that cripple its ability to respond to potential threats.

Mankind needs the availability of more energy that’s both affordable and reliable, if it is to have the ability to respond to severe weather, heat or cold, rising seas, drought or any of the other conditions that could afflict people worldwide.

The terrible conditions that plagued mankind in the past, when it lacked the energy to protect itself, included famines, starvation, death from freezing cold, and death from diseases that are now largely under control.

Recently, policies have been implemented that undermine mankind’s ability to withstand threats Mother Nature may thrust upon it.

These policies have been instituted as the result of an unreasonable fear of carbon dioxide, an invisible harmless gas released when fossil fuels are burned, and an unjustified terror of climate change.

Unreasonable fear and unjustified terror were phrases used by president Roosevelt in his inaugural address to highlight that fear itself is a threat.

Today, we face a threat conjured up from questionable science that uses fear to promote policies that undermine mankind’s ability to react to events.

These policies are failing, and more importantly, crippling our ability to fend off any problem that might result from changes in our natural world, whether it be higher temperatures, colder temperatures, drought or sea level rise.

The fact is, fossil fuels provide the affordable and reliable energy needed to protect mankind from Mother Nature’s whims.

Nothing to Fear explores the flawed science behind the social movement that blames humans for global warming and climate change. Discrepancies with the science are discussed in Chapter 4, and the status of CO2 emissions is summarized in Chapter 5. The problems and limitations of wind and solar energy are presented in Chapters 6,7 and 8.

Chapter 9 discusses what I call the “Duck Curve.” It shows how increased reliance on renewable fuels between now and 2020 will undermine the grid that collects and distributes energy to our homes and businesses.

Chapters 10 and 11 address the false hope of biofuels and how taxpayer-funded subsidies grossly distort energy markets. Chapters 12, 13 and 14 explain why carbon capture and sequestration lacks credibility, how the Waxman-Markey proposed legislation foretold the implementation of extreme EPA regulations, and why efforts to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions are futile.

To be complete, any book on energy must also discuss possible alternatives to the hypothesis that climate change is caused by carbon dioxide emissions. While there are several such hypotheses, the sun is singled out in Chapter 15, along with the possibility that mankind may be faced with a new Little Ice Age.

Chapters 16 describes the damage that will be done to society, and the harm that will befall millions of people around the world if governments adopt policies that attempt to drastically cut carbon dioxide emissions

Chapter 17 & 18 examine why energy, primarily from fossil fuels, will allow mankind to eliminate the scourges of poverty that remain in dark corners of the globe, and why energy will allow mankind to protect itself from nearly anything mother nature may conjure up in the future.

Obviously, little can be done if an asteroid hits the Earth, or if the Yellowstone caldera erupts, but even in these dire situations energy might prove to be mankind’s salvation.

My hope is that people will again start to use critical thinking. I believe the failure to develop critical thinking is one of the great failings of our current education system.

Additional information

Donn Dears began his career at General Electric testing large steam turbines and generators used by utilities to generate electricity; followed next, by manufacturing and marketing assignments at the Transformer Division. He led an organization of a few thousand people servicing these and other GE products in the United States. He then established facilities around the world to service power generation, transmission equipment and other electric apparatus. Later, he led an engineering department of several hundred people that provided engineering support to nearly a hundred service installations around the world.

At nearly every step, Donn was involved with the work done at customer locations: at steel mills, electric utilities, refineries, oil drilling and production facilities and open pit and underground mining operations. At every opportunity, he learned of the needs of these industries.

Donn has had a close-up view of the eastern province of Saudi Arabia with its oil producing and shipping facilities. He has investigated many of the other oil producing countries in the Mideast and Northern Europe, as well as examining iron-ore mining locations and major shipping centers in Europe and Asia.

All told, Donn has visited over 50 countries and has knowledge of their need for the technologies that can improve their well being and their use of equipment manufactured in the United States.

Following his retirement as a senior GE Company executive, he continued to study and write about energy issues.

Donn is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and served on active duty in the U.S. Navy.