Eli5 Why did fossil fuels bring about such a huge increase in standard of living if they are bad for the environment?
In: 0
Fossil fuels are very energy dense. Burning coal to heat steam, and thus turn a turbine has turned once a job for donkeys and rivers into something that can be done anywhere automatically.
You can now produce electricity consistently using dynamos, and this was revolutionary. Nevermind the vechles, ships and everything else that could be powered through this method.
You can use other things to generate steam for a turbine, like decaying unstable isotopes. However burning hydrocarbons is by far the easiest way.
Being bad for the environment isn’t being immediately bad for humans. Humans aren’t directly affected by a change in CO2 levels, the amounts involved are small. However the small changes cause the environment to heat, and this is slowly bringing worse weather.
As for pollution, the burning of fossil fuels produces smog and acid rain. These kill people much sooner than the CO2 and are direct causes of deaths. However these deaths were generally overlooked in the push for better technology and greater luxuries
Latest Answers