Overview
The ability to heat and cool our homes, power our electronics, and provide light in the darkness is an absolute marvel. The swiftness with which we’ve moved from the awe-filled advent of these new technologies to our current state, in which we seemingly can’t live without them, is astonishing. Many of us have parents or grandparents who regaled us with tales of huddling with their (sometimes numerous) siblings in a single bed to keep warm, telling stories by the glow of candlelight; when nature called, they trudged through the snow in the freezing cold to use the outhouse. And when they finally got electricity in their home for the first time, or their first fridge, or their first television, the feeling they described was one of absolute wonder. For those of us fortunate enough to live in places with access to this technology, it has changed the very fabric of our society.
But unfortunately, this modern wonder has come at a terrible cost. The burning of fossil fuels used to generate that precious light and heat accounts for 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to climate change and threatening our future survival.
The good news is that renewable energy is on the rise in the U.S. and around the world, and costs are coming down. Our grandparents’ ways of generating power – burning coal, oil, and gas – don’t have to be our own. And with new investments into green infrastructure come new jobs and new opportunities. As wind, solar, and hydroelectric power become more common and more readily available, we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and work toward our goal of a carbon-neutral world.
