Taking Charge
Taking Charge
How and Why You Should Change the Future of Energy Production
After thousands of years of evolution, through the rise of society, civilization and technology, we’ve finally managed to dramatically change the Earth’s climate, atmosphere and crust. Thus, we are entering a new Era.
A brief history of pollution.
In prehistoric times, man discovered fire. So, he kept caves warm and welcoming. And started the rise of civilization.
In modern times, scientists found on the ceilings of those caves, masses of impure carbon – “soot”, resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. Due to improper ventilation, that was – and is – health damaging. But prehistoric people didn’t know that.
Also, what they didn’t know was that they were slowly starting to change the planet.
In 1272, smoke became a problem in London. So King Edward I of England banned sea-coal from being burned.
As the Industrial Revolution began – some 500 years after that – the environmental pollution as we know it today, also started. London and Berlin suffered greatly. And later, in the early 1900s, smog came to be a major issue in Los Angeles.
Waking to the dream of clean energy.
It’s 1979 and the world is in an energy crisis – due to oil shortage. No, it’s not the first time, but as people usually forget what has happened throughout history – the 1973 oil crisis, for instance – they are shocked. Oil prices double and people panic. But oil-consuming nations use 2 million barrels of oil a day – which is more than it’s being produced.
On March 28, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, Pennsylvania. A partial meltdown of the core occurs at 1 of the 2 reactors. And on July 10, US President Jimmy Carter announced the national energy supply shortage. Also, the US starts pouring funds into solar energy research and development.
In Europe, Denmark is already a leader in renewable energy through the use of wind power. Wind farms are scattered all over the country.
The world suddenly realized that it could no longer depend on oil and coal resources, or to nuclear power. It realized that electricity stands at the core of civilization and that natural resources are depleting, fast.
A new Era is upon us.
Scientists determined that the climate was rapidly changing. In 2014, they found out that the Holocene epoch might be coming to end, after 11,700 years – writes the “Independent” journal. All due to human civilization.
The Holocene’s characteristic was the warmer and wetter climate, that now is reaching an end. So, scientists proposed a term for the new epoch: the Anthropocene. Coming from ancient Greek word for human, the term seems well suited. As it is human race that dramatically influenced Earth’s atmosphere and crust, that the planet is advancing to a new geological epoch.
Now, with all this data at hand, why should we change the ways we produce our energy?
Well, because if we will live in the Anthropocene – the Human Era – it means we have the power to shape it, as we see fit. Taking charge and shaping a greener future might just be the responsible way to do it.
