“Donald Trump is right to ignore climate change and say that environmentalism is “out of control”. The American people will benefit much more from government support of tried-and-tested fossil fuel industries (without regulation) than the transition to an environmentally-friendly world.”
Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind, but there is not one of them who would disagree that Climate Change is actually happening.
PROs
l Renewable Energy is Vulnerable
Windmills and Solar Panels take up a lot of space as the energy is diluted across the environment.
Also, renewable energy shares the vagaries of nature, with its ebbs and flows. What if the wind dies down or the sky clouds over? Energy production weakens; this perhaps when the world needs it the most. Thus, renewable energy demands storage to contain the energy between production and consumption.
l Nuclear Energy is unsafe, irradiate people, unsafe. Harmful technology.
l Fossil Fuels are able to deliver Large Energy Quantities in a short span of time. The current power generation and distribution model of energy is almost pitch perfect. Fossil fuel is portable and can easily be stored. Basically, fuel can be extracted where it lies, processed at separate locations and transported to wherever it is needed.
l High development costs
Research, manufacturing and storage are humongous.
l Incentives
In a history of government incentives; coal, natural gas and petroleum receive $4.22Bn most in direct subsidies whereas solar got $1.13Bn. (worldwide)
l Shouldn’t waste “financial resources” on climate change and should instead use them to ensure the world has clean water, eliminate diseases like malaria, increase food production, or develop alternative energy sources.
l Can we trust science? Science changes - Just before Einstein showed up, the scientific consensus was that there was nothing much to discover in physics beyond what Newton had discovered… And of course the main problem with believing in climate change is that it is primarily a prediction about the future. Predictions can be tricky; just ask the pollsters. I’m not sure how anything about the future can be proven; the future is uncertain. - Matthew N.B., open Google Docs two weeks before the US Elections
l Climate Change should be ignored. (World Rejecting Cults) We are all going to die anyway. Laissez-allez philosophy.
l Earth's climate has always warmed and cooled, and the 20th century rise in global temperature is within the bounds of natural temperature fluctuations over the past 3,000 years.
l Human-produced CO2 is re-absorbed by oceans, forests, and other "carbon sinks," negating any climate changes. The Carbon Dioxide Cycle.
l The rate of global warming has slowed over the last decade even though atmospheric CO2 continues to increase. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognized a slowdown in global warming over the past 15 years in its 2013 report.
l Predictions of accelerating human-caused climate change are based upon computerized climate models that are inadequate and incorrect.
CONs
l Renewable Energy has Strengths
The production source is free. Unlike fossil fuels, they do not release hydrocarbons into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases that cause global warming, acid rains. Predictions for final depletion of fossil fuel reserves range from 50 to less than 150 years.
l Stable Pollution-free Energy Prices
Usually, an increase or decrease in supply of fossil fuels has a direct result on inflation. Clearly, we can expect much more stable prices when bulk of energy is coming from renewable sources.
l Continual source of energy
Nature is a constant supply of energy and is reliable for the future. Unlike fossil fuels, renewable sources are not affected by wars, strikes, trade disputes and political stabilities directly.
l One time investment, doesn’t not require much maintenance
l Large Scale Job Creation
Renewable energy technologies are not only cheaper because they require less maintenance but also have created millions of jobs already in the US and other European countries that have switched to renewable sources to lower their carbon footprint.
l Climate change is the greatest existential threat that humanity has ever faced. Science denialism is not new. Climate change isn't the only topic that's generated this kind of debate. In perhaps a more devastating incidence of science denialism, 15 years ago, former South African President Thabo Mbeki denied the link between HIV and AIDS. According to research by Harvard University, Mbeki’s AIDS policy is largely to blame for the deaths of more than 300,000 people.