I don’t want to ban fracking. I want to make it obsolete
Let’s dream together.
Part of solving problems is not just creating a technical solution, but getting people on board with your solution, trying to think ahead about the implications of your solution, the unintended consequences, how you will solve the problems it might create. But a vision is necessary.
It is not enough to warn people of the horrible consequences of not doing anything about climate change. I believe we also need to show how sweet and nice life can be with a different approach, using the right technology to build it.
There has been a lot of debate and arguments about a fracking ban. If you ask me, *we do not need to ban fracking* . We just need to make it economically unfeasible. We need to make sure the fossil fuel industry does not get any subsidies, we can invest in carbon sequestration technologies and in cheaper nuclear power. We need to make sure that fossil fuel companies pay the real price of the environmental damage they create.
Imagine with me, a world where we can take the CO2 from the air and turn it into hydrocarbons at a price competitive with fracking, where the transition to fully electric is gradual, and we still use hydrocarbons, but they do not come from the ground, they come from the air. We could use renewable power to sequester CO2 and run the chemical processes for the transformation, and use a mix of hydro, solar, wind and specially nuclear power for the grid. We could still have air travel using jet fuel that has a much smaller net CO2 emissions. This is possible with better technology and with cheap energy. This is entirely compatible with many economic models and left and right should in principle support it, each one for different reasons. There are things we could still agree on.
Imagine with me, a world where our cities are much greener and our architecture encourages plants growing everywhere, cooling down out cities, creating microclimates and sequestering carbon.
Imagine with me a future full of cheap, greener energy that allows to do a lot more and still have a smaller carbon footprint than our current lifestyle. it is possible. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. We must be smart, navigate not only technology, but also politics, we need to avoid unnecessary conflict and create a vision attractive for most people, not only show the stick, but give carrots as well.
Why should we ban fracking when we can make it completely obsolete?
