Phasing Out Fossil Fuels: Can it Be Done?

You may likely be aware of the ongoing situation around climate change, and how some proposed solutions involve moving away from more harmful sources of energy in order to make less of an impact on the environment. The obvious problem that arises from this is the current reliance on fossil fuels, and how societal infrastructure as a whole is revolved around it, not to mention the amount of money attached to such fuels that lead people to supporting its continued use through any means possible.

However, there are alternatives and possible paths ahead, which should hopefully mean that changes can be made. Still, it’s difficult to know whether this is an action that can realistically be taken at this point.

Why It Can

If this is an issue that you care deeply about, and perhaps you’re finding yourself anxious about the prospect of what might happen if it’s not addressed, you’ll want to believe that there’s something to be done. If you commit to the idea that everything is hopeless, you might find yourself losing the motivation to take any action in the first place, meaning that having a positive attitude about the prospect of change could encourage a more enthusiastic approach. There is a pressure to it, though, and this is something that you’re going to hear time and time again whenever you look at coverage of this issue.

What this might translate to in real life is making changes to your own lifestyle that will move you away from a dependence on fossil fuels. Perhaps shifting to an electric car is a possibility or converting your house toward a solar panel grid with professionals like Now EV, or even just relying on services that are already at your disposal, such as public transport. Alternatively, while it might not be an issue that’s related to fossil fuels, looking to lead a more sustainable lifestyle in other areas such as with your diet might see you eating more vegetarian meals in order to avoid the potential damage that is caused by unsustainable farming.

Why it Can’t

Then again, with all the warnings of how the issue of climate change might be past the point of no return, it can often feel as though people aren’t abandoning fossil fuels fast enough to make a difference. With the construction of even certain sustainable technologies proving to be damaging in their own right, the nature of this uphill battle can often be too overwhelming to ignore. This is true in a global sense, but it’s also something that you might notice in your own personal life, too. For every change that you make in a positive direction, it might just draw your attention to how many parts of your life are dependent on fossil fuels and other things that continue to do harm to the environment. In a lot of these cases, it might not even be as simple as simply finding an alternative, as such a thing would require an upheaval that would change your entire lifestyle.

Money is a very important aspect here, as mentioned previously. Thanks to the amount of money that those in the fossil fuel business are working with, there’s leveraging to be done with people in positions of power, and that’s something that can work against sustainable energy sources, even when the latter would prove to be more beneficial for the planet at large. Once again, this is something that’s also true in a personal sense. While you might be able to identify any number of changes that you would want to make in a more sustainable direction, lacking the funds to do it might mean that you’re continuing to make compromises for the sake of your own living situation, which is both reasonable and necessary when the alternative is just unrealistic.

Person vs. People

Throughout all of this, a thought that you might keep coming back to is the impact that you can make as an individual, against the lack of progress that a much larger group would make. If the progress that you make is immediately cancelled out by actions in the opposite direction of the masses, what’s the point? It’s natural to feel despair at social issues due to these perceived challenges, but it’s important to remember that in order for change to happen, each individual person has to work toward it until the tide of change is strong enough. While your decision to lead a more sustainable life might not initially feel as though it carries a lot of weight in the grand scheme of things, you’re a very important cog in the greater machine of change, and the actions that you take can have a positive ripple effect. While you might not immediately notice it, it’s very much real.

What this might mean is that you pay a greater deal of attention to others like you who are looking to make a change in a more sustainable direction. Other people, groups, and businesses that are trying to make this cause a focus of their lifestyle can benefit from your interaction, and perhaps offer some knowledge in return that can help this greater movement of change feel like it’s gaining momentum. As discussed previously, part of the problem here is the money behind fossil fuels and the lobbying that can often come with that. This is something that’s also true of bigger corporations and the environmental damage that they can cause, so making the decision to spend your money with businesses that have placed an emphasis on being as green as possible means that you’re helping them to achieve their goal. Sometimes this will mean spending more money, but that might be a change in lifestyle that you have to accommodate in some ways if you feel as though it’s suitably important. Obviously, at a certain point, it’s just going to be unworkable in relation to your personal budget, so it might be about recognizing what to buy from different vendors.