Global Energy Crisis

I believe one of the most pressing challenges facing the global environment is the energy crisis. We are reaching the end of our fossil fuel resources, and no matter how many commercials Exxon Mobil plays, oil is not going to be the future energy supplier. There's just not enough left to sustain our growing population. Scientists do not know for sure how many years left we have of our oil, coal and natural gas reserves, especially since the growing world population and developing countries will continue to require more of these resources. We need to develop sustainable alternative resources and the key word in that sentence is sustainable.

Not all sources of alternative energy will work in all areas. Wind, solar, hydro, tidal, geothermal and even bio energy sources can only be implemented in certain areas to be sustainable. Our worlds economy depends mainly on one source, oil. I have learned my economic classes that its never good to put "all your eggs in one basket". If we do not have an alternative for oil when that resource runs out, the world economy will collapse. We should learn from this mistake to not invest all our efforts into one alternative source of energy. We need to develop and improve the technologies for all the alternative sources of energy, so they are sustainable to the environment of which they are located.

One thing that also horrifies me, is nuclear energy. Its not stable or safe and is environmentally harmful. We should learn from the Love Canal, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island that the devastation of a nuclear reactor malfunction or nuclear waste leak is not worth the energy produced . Nuclear reactor malfunctions can kill thousands of people and destroy acres of land. Not to mention nuclear waste dump sites are not safe. The waste leaks into ground water and the earth, which we witnessed with the Love Canal tragedy. Leaks happen daily around all nuclear waste sites everywhere in the world, including the U.S. and France. France is praised for its nuclear energy plants, but there are numerous cases of nuclear waste leaks into rivers and ground water, which is why they are looking into alternative resources of energy too. The U.S. needs to move away from the idea that nuclear energy is a sustainable source for alternative energy; its not.

Sustainable alternative energy is a pressing matter because not only will it save our global economy but it will help us fight global warming which is another crucial problem that needs to be addressed. Moving away from the use of fossil fuels will limit the amount of green house gases that are admitted into the atmosphere. When we create the technology to implement these new resources, we will take a huge step forward in fighting global warming. This needs to be done immediately and needs to be implemented in all states, developed and especially developing states that will require more energy in the future.