The Moral Case For Fossil Fuels Revised Edition
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The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Revised Edition
Now revised and updated--from the New York Times bestselling author, a contrarian cost-benefit analysis that will make you question everything you thought you knew about fossil fuels. For decades we've been told that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet at the same time, life has been getting better and better by every measure of human well-being, from access to clean water to climate safety. How can this be? In this timely and necessary book, energy expert Alex Epstein argues that we've only heard one side of the story. Today's climate activists and environmental pundits focus solely on the side effects of fossil fuels but completely ignore their unique ability to provide cheap, reliable energy for a world of seven billion people. Drawing on original insights and cutting-edge research, Epstein shows that most of what we've been told about fossil fuels is a myth. For instance... Myth: Fossil fuels are making the climate unlivable. Truth: Fossil fuels haven't taken a naturally safe climate and made it dangerous; they've taken a naturally dangerous climate and made it safer than ever. Myth: Solar and wind can replace fossil fuels. Truth: Sun and wind are unreliable and always need backup from a reliable source - almost always fossil fuels. Myth: Fossil fuels are hurting the developing world. Truth: Fossil fuels are the key to improving the quality of life for billions of people in the developing world--including their ability to adapt to a changing climate. Now fully updated with the latest data and addressing recent controversies from "peak oil demand" to the Green New Deal, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels is sure to challenge your assumptions.
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
Could everything we know about fossil fuels be wrong? For decades, environmentalists have told us that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet at the same time, by every measure of human well-being, from life expectancy to clean water to climate safety, life has been getting better and better. How can this be? The explanation, energy expert Alex Epstein argues in The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, is that we usually hear only one side of the story. We’re taught to think only of the negatives of fossil fuels, their risks and side effects, but not their positives—their unique ability to provide cheap, reliable energy for a world of seven billion people. And the moral significance of cheap, reliable energy, Epstein argues, is woefully underrated. Energy is our ability to improve every single aspect of life, whether economic or environmental. If we look at the big picture of fossil fuels compared with the alternatives, the overall impact of using fossil fuels is to make the world a far better place. We are morally obligated to use more fossil fuels for the sake of our economy and our environment. Drawing on original insights and cutting-edge research, Epstein argues that most of what we hear about fossil fuels is a myth. For instance . . . Myth: Fossil fuels are dirty. Truth: The environmental benefits of using fossil fuels far outweigh the risks. Fossil fuels don’t take a naturally clean environment and make it dirty; they take a naturally dirty environment and make it clean. They don’t take a naturally safe climate and make it dangerous; they take a naturally dangerous climate and make it ever safer. Myth: Fossil fuels are unsustainable, so we should strive to use “renewable” solar and wind. Truth: The sun and wind are intermittent, unreliable fuels that always need backup from a reliable source of energy—usually fossil fuels. There are huge amounts of fossil fuels left, and we have plenty of time to find something cheaper. Myth: Fossil fuels are hurting the developing world. Truth: Fossil fuels are the key to improving the quality of life for billions of people in the developing world. If we withhold them, access to clean water plummets, critical medical machines like incubators become impossible to operate, and life expectancy drops significantly. Calls to “get off fossil fuels” are calls to degrade the lives of innocent people who merely want the same opportunities we enjoy in the West. Taking everything into account, including the facts about climate change, Epstein argues that “fossil fuels are easy to misunderstand and demonize, but they are absolutely good to use. And they absolutely need to be championed. . . . Mankind’s use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous—because human life is the standard of value and because using fossil fuels transforms our environment to make it wonderful for human life.”
The Moral Case for Profit Maximization
Author: Robert White
language: en
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Release Date: 2020-04-01
The Moral Case for Profit Maximization argues that profit maximization is moral when businessmen seek to maximize profit by creating goods or services that are of objective value. Traditionally, profit maximization has been defended on economic grounds. Profit, economists argue, incentivizes businessmen to produce goods and services. In this view, businessmen do not need to be virtuous as long as they deliver the goods. It challenges the traditional defense of profit maximization, arguing that profit maximization is morally ambitious because it requires businessmen to form normative abstractions and to cultivate a virtuous character. In so doing, the author also challenges the moral basis of corporate social responsibility. Proponents of CSR argue that businessmen can do good while doing well. This book argues that businessmen already do good by maximizing profit, drawing upon the histories of the wheel, the refrigerator, and the shipping container, as well as the biographies of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison to demonstrate the role of values in the creation of material goods and the role of the virtues in value creation. The author challenges readers to rethink the relationship between profit, value, and virtue.