There’s a saying about being between a rock and a hard place and the world is in that spot. We have a huge disaster looming and the alternative is also a disaster. The rock is climate change and the hammer is the need for petroleum and natural gas.

            Scientists and environmentalists tell us we must get away from fossil fuels and hope we can keep the Earth from getting too hot destroying not only our way of life but life itself. We know the Greenland and Antarctic glaciers are melting which will raise the oceans over 200 feet flooding most of the world’s major cities.

            The only way to prevent this disaster is to quickly reduce our dependence on carbon dioxide and methane. It will take thousands of years for what is already dumped by humans into the air to fall back to the surface. Science is working to find a way to reduce that amount faster.

            However our problem is we want to replace the power plants, vehicles, and other uses with renewable energy and nuclear power. Currently the power source for vehicles and storage batteries is lithium which will be depleted by the end of the century if we don’t recycle. The current cost to replace batteries on any electric vehicle is several thousand dollars and should be done within ten years. In addition the capacity of the battery could have declined 30% of its original capacity. Relying on wind and solar during windless cloudy days will overtax community storage facilities. The current and anticipated use of nuclear plants won’t make up for the loss.

            If we don’t cut back on the pollution and embrace the change, we will die and if we do economies may be destroyed now. Ouch!