Energy crisis should trump climate change

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With the recent snowstorms hitting the East Coast throughout the last few weeks, it seems like conservatives finally have put the last icy nail in the coffin on the global warming theory.

This is paired with the recent “Climategate” scandal when a hacker leaked e-mails from the University of East Anglia that showed researchers trying to hide the decline in temperature readings in recent decades.

What baffles me is the idea that disproving climate change is going to do anything but slow progress. In 2008, only 16 percent of our energy came from sources other than fossil fuels.

Of the 99.305 quadrillion BTUs we consumed back in 2008, only 7.3 quadrillion BTUs came from renewable energy. But instead, all we hear about is whether or not climate change actually is happening.

Whether it is happening or not, we shouldn’t care. Proving that climate change is false does nothing but allow one political party to point fingers at the other to sway votes.

This polarization of public policy doesn’t help our country move forward from use of fossil fuels, but rather holds us back. Instead, we should focus on changing our policies and practices.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that global warming actually is not happening (nevermind the obvious fact that the polar ice caps still are melting away).

We don’t need to worry about the changes in weather patterns, more severe storms and rising sea levels. Great. That’s a relief.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we have no reason to worry about energy policy. We can continue to use fossil fuels from now until the end of our days with no problems at all.

Oh, and let’s bring back the inefficient cars that we all grew to love before the climate change debacle. After all, why fix it if it isn’t broken?

But everything about America’s current energy policy is broken. We rely on fossil fuels (a finite resource, which eventually will be exhausted) to the point where we trade with unstable foreign governments for something that we can’t live without.

We pump millions of harmful chemicals and pollutants into the air every time we burn these fuels. And as these finite resources run out, the price will continue to rise to the point where we, both individually and as a country, will run out of money.

These all are facts that we know to be true. It’s simple economics. More demand, less supply, higher price.

By looking toward alternative sources of energy, we can cut back on how much foreign oil we purchase, giving our country greater stability, since we won’t have to rely on others for our country to succeed.

We also can invest in our country by developing new jobs and careers. We’ll have cleaner air to breathe and cleaner water to drink.

This also applies not just to our country as a whole, but to each individual as well. Cutting back on energy consumption is a challenge, and it’s not going to be easy.

New technologies and alternative sources of fuel can be expensive. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not running out to buy a solar-powered car.

But even small things can make a difference. Carpooling or taking public transportation helps reduce the energy use per person in our country. Try to cut back on the amount of miles you drive your car or the amount of time you leave the lights on.

I’m not saying that global warming is true or not. I’m saying there are more pressing issues we need to address.

So instead of relying on a theory like global warming, where people can bring facts to prove or disprove, let’s turn our attention toward the problems we already know exist.

And as we fix all those problems, we’ll fix the climate change problem as well, even if it turned out to be false.

Matt Mikus is a State News guest columnist and journalism senior. Reach him at mikusmat@msu.edu.

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