Burning Fossil Fuels Quotes - Page 2

• I think that the world is in the middle of a huge transition that we have to make to renewable energy. We have to transition away from fossil fuels very, very quickly.

  Josh Fox

  Thinking, Energy, Transition

  "Sundance ’10 | “GASLAND” Director Josh Fox on Being a One Man Crew". www.indiewire.com. January 22, 2010.

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• We should be increasing research and development into our fossil fuel program.

  Tim Holden

  Research And Development, Fossils, Program

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• Coal, oil and gas are called fossil fuels, because they are mostly made of the fossil remains of beings from long ago. The chemical energy within them is a kind of stored sunlight originally accumulated by ancient plants. Our civilization runs by burning the remains of humble creatures who inhabited the Earth hundreds of millions of years before the first humans came on the scene. Like some ghastly cannibal cult, we subsist on the dead bodies of our ancestors and distant relatives. - Dr. Carl Sagan

  Carl Sagan

  Running, Humble, Long Ago

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium”, p.104, Ballantine Books

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• Many anti-energy groups display little appreciation of the extent to which modern economies depend pervasively on the use of fossil fuels and petrochemical products.

  Robert Higgs

  Appreciation, Littles, Fossils

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• In addition to contributing to erosion, pollution, food poisoning, and the dead zone, corn requires huge amounts of fossil fuel - it takes a half gallon of fossil fuel to produce a bushel of corn.

  Michael Pollan

  Food, Erosion, Fuel

  "Food Chains, Dead Zones, and Licensed Journalism". Interview With Russell Schoch, www.motherjones.com. February 4, 2005.

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• The fact is fossil fuel carbon will stay in the surface climate system for millennia.

  James Hansen

  Fossils, Facts, Climate

  "Global warming activist, former NASA scientist James Hansen speaks out before World Affairs Council of Oregon appearance". Interview with Scott Learn, www.oregonlive.com. April 24, 2013.

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• There is more He-3 energy on the Moon than we have ever had in the form of fossil fuels on Earth. All we have to do is to go there and get it.

  Wilson Greatbatch

  Moon, Energy, Earth

  Wilson Greatbatch (2000). “The Making of the Pacemaker: Celebrating a Lifesaving Invention”

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• It seems to me like Mother Nature's mercy and forgiveness have run dry, as we ceaselessly abuse her and take her for granted in order for us to continue our addiction to using fossil fuels. I've gotta say, I don't blame her. Not one bit.

  Gloria Reuben

  Mother, Running, Order

  "A Night in New York" by Gloria Reuben, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 13, 2010.

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• Practically every environmental problem we have can be traced to our addiction to fossil fuels, primarily oil.

  Dennis Weaver

  Oil, Addiction, Environmental

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• The biggest tab the public picks up for fossil fuels has to do with what economists call 'external costs,' like the health effects of air and water pollution.

  Jeff Goodell

  Air, Water, Fossils

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• If a power station were to be built down the road, I'd prefer a nuclear plant over an oil burner, and definitely over a coal burner. We simply have to lessen our consumption of fossil fuels.

  James Lovelock

  Oil, Fuel, Fossils

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• A majority of American citizens are now becoming skeptical of the claim that our carbon footprints, resulting from our use of fossil fuels, are going to lead to climatic calamities. But governments are not yet listening to the citizens.

  John Coleman

  Carbon Footprint, Government, Listening

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• There is an urgent need to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, dramatically reduce wasted energy, and significantly shift our power supplies from oil, coal, and natural gas to wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources.

  Bill McKibben

  Wind, Oil, Coal

  "It’s Time for Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change" by Bill McKibben, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 9, 2012.

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• Japan is a model already to the lie that economic growth is the key to our future. If they can really show an alternative to nukes and fossil fuels, then they will be the poster boy for the renewable energy for the future.

  David Suzuki

  Lying, Boys, Keys

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• I personally think that a couple of pounds a week - maybe rising to almost £3 a week - is a reasonable price for Britain to achieve a degree of energy security to reduce its total dependence on fossil fuels and to honour its commitments to cut green house gases.

  Tim Yeo

  Couple, Commitment, Cutting

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• Beyond reducing individual use, one of our top priorities must be to move from fossil fuels to energy that has fewer detrimental effects on water supplies and fewer environmental impacts overall.

  David Suzuki

  Moving, Impact, Water

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• Burning fossil fuels has given us the gift of seeing ourselves in new ways. But that very gift now enables us to see we've got to change our ways.

  Sylvia Earle

  Fossils, Burning, Fuel

  "Her Majesty of the Deep Blue Sea: An Interview with Dr. Sylvia Earle, Part One". Interview with Dan Linehan, www.mission-blue.org. January 23, 2013.

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• Burning fossil fuels is like breaking up the furniture to feed the fireplace because it's easier than going out to the woodpile.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Going Out, Burning, Fuel

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• Today, our incentives aren't set up well - you can make a lot of money burning fossil fuels, digging up wetlands, pumping fossil water out of aquifers that will take 10,000 years to recharge, overfishing species in international waters that are close to collapse, and so on.

  Ramez Naam

  Aquifers, Years, Water

  "Q&A with Ramez Naam: Dialogues on the Environment". Interview with Mark Tercek, bigthink.com.

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• Once the steam engine went away and we started moving into burning fossil fuels - not just burning them, but everything we do with oil - we've been experiencing [these problems] at an accelerated rate. The scary end-game scenario is getting closer and closer, about what we're going to be able to do to sustain life on this planet as we have come to know it. And I think this is a very real possibility, that we could be dealing with conditions we have no idea how to wrestle with.

  Don Cheadle

  Real, Moving, Thinking

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• All scientists who've looked at it know we have to phase away from burning fossil fuels. That means we've got to put a lot of effort into alternate energy technologies, but we're still subsidizing fossil fuels and not subsidizing most of the alternatives. It's not going to be an easy transition.

  Paul R. Ehrlich

  Mean, Technology, Effort

  "Q&A: Paul Ehrlich". Interview with Jesse Finfrock, www.motherjones.com. 2008.

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• People sometimes say we need to be really almost on a wartime footing if you want to change. Our whole economy is based on burning fossil fuels, which is taking CO2 out of the ground and putting it up into the air.

  Elizabeth Kolbert

  Air, People, Needs

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Sure, you can say nuclear power is somewhat less carbon-intensive than burning fossil fuels for energy; beating your children to death with a club will prevent them from getting hit by a car. Ravaging the Earth by one irreparable means is not a sensible way to prevent it from being destroyed by another. There are alternatives. We should choose them and use them.

  Rebecca Solnit

  Children, Mean, Car

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• CO2 is a minor player in the total system, and human CO2 emissions are insignificant compared to total natural greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, lowering human CO2 emissions will have no measurable effect on climate, and continued CO2 emissions will have little or no effect on future temperature....While controlling CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels may have some beneficial effects on air quality, it will have no measurable effect on climate, but great detrimental effects on the economy and our standard of living.

  Jonathan Duhamel

  Player, Air, Quality

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• We need to stop burning fossil fuels and utilize only wind, water, and solar power with all generation of power coming from individual or small community units like windmills, waterwheels, and solar panels. Sea transportation should be by sail...Air transportation should be by solar powered blimps when air transportation is necessary.

  Paul Watson

  Air, Wind, Sea

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