2020 is considered the worst year in decades for multiple reasons, but this article might just bring some light to 2020 and the environment’s current situation.
During the pandemic, the global transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy skyrocketed. The demand for solar and wind energy, electric cars, and smart grids became higher and the demand for fossil fuels plummeted, especially for fossil fuel coal. Furthermore, governments from the U.K. to California publicly announced their plans to permanently ban all sales of new gasoline-powered cars by the next 10–15 years.
But, to understand why this is so revolutionary we need to learn about what fossil fuels and renewable energy are.
So, what are fossil fuels? Well, fossil fuels are nonrenewable energy sources made from decomposing animals and plants. Fossil fuels contain hydrogen and oxygen. Some fossil fuel examples are coal, petroleum, tar sands, and heavy oils. We use a lot of fossil fuels in our day to day lives, for example, wherever you go to places in a car you’re using fossil fuels because gasoline-powered cars use fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are known as greenhouse gasses because the carbon dioxide in them is released when we make them, get them, and use them. The carbon dioxide is then trapped in the atmosphere, like heat being trapped in the glass walls of greenhouses, this results in the atmosphere slowly being “burned” through, which is a problem. Why is this a problem? Without the atmosphere all living things on Earth and Earth itself are exposed to the sun directly, which the atmosphere would usually protect us from, the sun rays will be so hot crops, animals, and eventually, humans will die. This is known as climate change, the biggest threat in the world. Fossil fuels also release heat which melts icebergs, therefore resulting in the sea levels rising causing floods. This is only a small portion of what happens due to fossil fuels, fossil fuels are terrible for not only us but the environment.
Now we need to learn about renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources are essentially the opposite of fossil fuels. Renewable energy sources are things like the batteries in electric cars, like Tesla's. Renewable energy is renewable energy, meaning you can reuse it by either recycling, recharging, and more. Renewable energy can rely on electricity, the sun, wind, etc. Some things that use renewable energy are wind turbines, electric cars, solar panels, and of course, there is lots more! Switching to renewable, and clean, energy and leaving fossil fuels behind is imperative for us to make a big impact on stopping climate change. It is more costly, but the Earth and its beautiful nature comes before money and greed.
Remember, you can make a change too, whether that be switching to getting energy from solar panels or using an electric car instead of a gas-powered car. Let’s do this, let’s start changing the way we treat Earth for the better of every single species!
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