Increasing the amount of energy obtained through green methods relative to fossil fuels can also prove to be beneficial by slowing the depletion of the Earth’s natural resources. At the rate these resources are being used up and due to the limits on the Earth’s natural fossil fuel reserve, they will no longer be available as a source of energy within the near future if consumption does not drastically change. The article How long before we run out of fossil fuels? states that, “the R/P ratio essentially divides the quantity of known fuel reserves by the current rate of production to estimate how long we could continue if this level of production remained constant… we would have about 115 years of coal production, and roughly 50 years of both oil and
natural gas remaining” (Ritchie).
One of the most pivotal reasons to strengthen policy and urge the transition to renewable energy is the significant environmental impact that anthropic greenhouse gases have had on the condition of the planet. Greenhouse gases, an overarching term describing gases that absorb the infrared radiation of the sun and trap it within the atmosphere, are produced through the combustion of fossil fuels. By trapping solar radiation in the atmosphere, the presence of these gases increase the Earth’s average climate drastically impacting both the environment and virtually all living organisms. In the research paper, Study of Impacts of
Global Warming on Climate Change, the author states, “current changes in ocean chemistry due to the burning of fossil fuels may portend a new wave of die-offs. In other words, the vast clouds of shelled creatures in the deep oceans had virtually disappeared” (Singh 102). This is important in invoking a progression in environmental regulations because humans have had a statistically significant impact on the induced climate change through the dependency on fossil fuels to
produce energy.