Fossil Future - Alex Epstein

Fossil Future

By Alex Epstein

  • Release Date: 2022-05-24
  • Genre: Industries & Professions
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 35 Ratings

Description

The New York Times bestselling author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels draws on the latest data and new insights to challenge everything you thought you knew about the future of energy

For over a decade, philosopher and energy expert Alex Epstein has predicted that any negative impacts of fossil fuel use on our climate will be outweighed by the unique benefits of fossil fuels to human flourishing--including their unrivaled ability to provide low-cost, reliable energy to billions of people around the world, especially the world’s poorest people.
 
And contrary to what we hear from media “experts” about today’s “renewable revolution” and “climate emergency,” reality has proven Epstein right:
 
Fact: Fossil fuels are still the dominant source of energy around the world, and growing fast—while much-hyped renewables are causing skyrocketing electricity prices and increased blackouts.Fact: Fossil-fueled development has brought global poverty to an all-time low.Fact: While fossil fuels have contributed to the 1 degree of warming in the last 170 years, climate-related deaths are at all-time lows thanks to fossil-fueled development. 
What does the future hold? In Fossil Future, Epstein, applying his distinctive “human flourishing framework” to the latest evidence, comes to the shocking conclusion that the benefits of fossil fuels will continue to far outweigh their side effects—including climate impacts—for generations to come. The path to global human flourishing, Epstein argues, is a combination of using more fossil fuels, getting better at “climate mastery,” and establishing “energy freedom” policies that allow nuclear and other truly promising alternatives to reach their full long-term potential.
 
Today’s pervasive claims of imminent climate catastrophe and imminent renewable energy dominance, Epstein shows, are based on what he calls the “anti-impact framework”—a set of faulty methods, false assumptions, and anti-human values that have caused the media’s designated experts to make wildly wrong predictions about fossil fuels, climate, and renewables for the last fifty years. Deeply researched and wide-ranging, this book will cause you to rethink everything you thought you knew about the future of our energy use, our environment, and our climate.

Reviews

  • Life changing

    4
    By Tyrone7782
    Using philosophy and science, Epstein does a great job of arguing for moral fossil fuel use. This book has the potential to change your life.
  • The case is strong, our best future includes expanding use of fossil fuels

    5
    By me2earth
    We are all told to accept the ‘knowledge’ that climate crisis is upon us. The skeptical among us wonder why only one side of the question is presented and why we are told that dissent is immoral. As with many things promoted by ‘progressivism,’ just like in the novel, “1984,” doublespeak is 180º out of phase with the real truth. Epstein exposes the lies and distortions that are force fed to all of us, and uncovers the underlying false premises and anti-human motivations that drive the leaders, the media, and ‘academics’ (and now much of corporate America) to pursue what are otherwise destructive policies. Even those well versed in the science, politics and policy of ‘climate change’ will learn important things from this book.
  • Knowledge System

    5
    By FriendHarper
    Besides well sited data, which one could weigh and integrate with the data they already have, Alex offers a new outlook on the way in which scientific knowledge is discovered. From expert researchers, to data synthesizers who make data sets and reports, to media that disseminates these data sets and reports to individuals, and how these individuals evaluate this information and how it influences the choices they make. This 4 step understanding of the flow of information Alex names a “knowledge system” is very eye opening as I have seen these 4 parts looking out into the world on the news, taking to coworkers, and being on social media. Alex advocates for a pro-human, deliberate and full context approach to our relationship with the earth we live on, and shows where he is coming from in a Human Flourishing knowledge system. This Human Flourishing perspective is contrasted by what Alex describes as a anti-human impact on nature based knowledge system in this book. Listening to this as an Audiobook (read by Alex himself), I find it to be a tad repetitive. I believe this is because he is communicating very precisely as to prevent anyone from twisting his message and minimize toxic paraphrasing. It’s probably less of an issue when reading it since you will commit some of the commonly used phrases to quick reading. Lastly, I want to advocate for this book because of its well sited data. Even if you fundamentally disagree with Alex, and claim he is cherry-picking, it stands to reason the data he picks is just as much Data as the data he left out, and all data must be integrated and settled without contradictions in order to make correct choices with the fullest context possible. Take it in, weigh the data with what you know, and then leave a review! I hope you learn something, I know I did!