A Modest Proposal

For Preventing the Inevitable Destruction of the World

It is a distressing sight to see how our planet is today. Pollution has enveloped many of our major cities with smog so thick you can barely breath. Reefs have been decimated until all that is left are bleached remains of dead coral. Oils spills devastate our oceans and seashores and kills off generations of aquatic life. What makes it so needlessly devastating is that this destruction was to satisfy the needs of a fossil fuel addicted society.

We as an industrialized civilization have grown overly dependent on our consumption of oil, petroleum, coal, and natural gas. A large part of our economy is based upon the discovery, extraction, refinement, and distribution of these fossil fuels.

An ecosystem is not made to kill itself but to prosper. There is a balance of nature, which should not be tampered with. If this balanced is altered, then the whole ecosystem is at stake. We are not only exhausting our natural resources but have somehow turned these same resources that the earth produces into weapons of mass destruction. We are not only jeopardizing the earth but also ourselves. Water and air pollution is a big contributor to lung and heart problems and a major cause of cancer and death.

Thankfully there is still hope for us yet! I have come up with a solution to our dilemma. My solution would not only save our planet but our society as well. No more will we have to fear for our children's health or our own! Our planet will be able to heal alongside us.

I will now modestly suggest my own ideas as to how we should handle this predicament. I propose that all governments must immediately declare extraction of any new fossil fuel illegal. All oil drilling rigs, oil-pumping stations, coalmines, plants, natural gas pipelines and related refineries should be immediately shut down and destroyed. Scientists will have to determine how long it will take to run out of existing resources given today's consumption and that date will be the end of our dependency on fossil fuels, as we know it.

Alternative energy must replace the existing dependence on fossil fuels. Focus on optimizing the use of theses alternative solutions must be immediate, deliberate, and widespread. Twenty-five percent of the remaining fossil fuels will be allocated for use by alternative energy facilities, until such time as they can become self sustaining. Governments must sponsor and support these alternative energy facilities, giving them tax incentives, grants and other financial assistance in order to enable them to thrive. Alternative energy sources such electricity, water, solar, wind or algae must become inexpensive enough to produce and profitable enough to sustain their respective industries.

Vehicle's exhaust contributes to over half the CO2 emissions nation-wide and almost all the emissions in cities. Therefore all vehicles that use gasoline will need to be modified to use other alternative energy sources or demolished and recycled. Alternative recommended forms of transportation are electrified mass transit and animal drawn carriages where available. People can also ride bicycles or walk which have the additional benefit of forcing the society to exercise, loose weight, and live healthier lives.

Any corporation, facility, home, store, and building of any kind must convert to cleaner, safer forms of energy or risk being shut down, abandoned, or demolished. Architecture should change so that wind turbines and solar panels are architected into all future buildings in such a way that they become most effective and profitable.

Society has become desensitized to the world's impending doom. Technological innovations are being out paced by our destructive nature, greed, and laziness. There is no incentive to create and rely on viable alternative energy sources because we are so dependent on fossil fuels. Only the complete elimination of fossil fuels will inspire our top minds to produce such viable alternatives and compel our governments to enforce their global usage.