There is a move by a lot of organisations for the acceptance and actioning of the use of renewable energy to replace the more common environment and climate threatening fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels are a $4.65 trillion industry and to have it replaced by renewable energy is a tough ask. Reason being fossil fuels are used to fuel cars and airplanes and power electricity plants.
According to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association: “When you brushed your teeth today, you used a product made from oil — toothpaste.
“Look at your shoes — they are a product made from oil.
“Sunglasses, tires, tennis balls and TVs are all products of oil and gas. Next time you’re playing basketball with your friends, think about the ball. The rubber to make that ball came from oil.
“The fact is, a huge number of products that we use every day, wouldn’t be available without the oil and gas extracted.”
So to deny Fiji of fossil fuel means simply this, with 100,000 registered vehicles and about 2000 of them hybrid cars, that means denying a majority of the country’s population who use the 98,000 other vehicles access to school, work, hospital or the chance of travelling.
This will affect the thousands of people who travel to and from Fiji impacting on Fiji largest foreign income earner — tourism.
The first question then is, can renewable energy replace fossil fuels? Can renewable energy replace oil?
Experts predict it will cost an estimated $US100 trillion dollars for renewable energy to replace fossil fuels. This is because of the high cost of technologies, machines, gadgets, feasibility studies, software etc needed to have the industry operational.
What is renewable energy? It is energy sourced from natural forces like sunlight, wind, rain and tides. Then there is biomass sourced from organic matter and biodiesel and organisms that have oily content such as coconuts, animal fats, vegetable oils and soybean.
It sounds easy because they are available but there are a lot of intricacies to having them provide the much-needed energy.
While renewable energy is environment friendly, fossil fuels are not.
Fenton Lutunatabua, the 350.org Pacific communication co-ordinator — an international non-government organisation that is building a movement on climate change, gives an insight on their movement and the need for renewable energy.
“Three hundred and fifty ppm is where 350.org gets its name from. PPM stands for ‘parts per million’, which is simply a way of measuring the ratio of carbon dioxide molecules to all of the other molecules in the atmosphere — 350 ppm is the ‘safe’ level of carbon dioxide.
“Beginning in the 18th century, humans began to burn coal, gas and oil to produce energy and goods. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere began to rise, at first slowly and now more quickly.
“Right now we’re at 400 ppm and unless we are able to rapidly turn that around and return to below 350 ppm, we risk triggering tipping points and irreversible impacts that could send climate change spinning well and truly out of our control.
“2015 was the hottest year in recorded history. We have to leave fossil fuels in the ground. If they are dug up and burnt, they will wreck the planet.”
Mr Lutunatabua revealed how these fossil fuels have affected the environment.
“Glaciers everywhere are melting and disappearing fast. Droughts are becoming much more common, making food harder to grow in many places. Sea levels have begun to rise and scientists have warned that they could go up as much as several metres this century.
“The science on climate change is clear. While much of the details are still being studied, one thing is no longer up for debate — our climate is changing profoundly and rapidly, and human activity is the key cause.”
With their concerns of the environment, Mr Lutunatabu said a team of Pacific Climate warriors had put their hands up to join other climate warriors from the around the world to fight tooth and nail for renewable energy.
“The fossil fuel industry poses a clear and present danger to our futures. But the global climate movement is coming together and growing
“Between May 4 to 15, a global wave of mass actions will target the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects in order to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground and accelerate the just transition to 100 percent renewable energy.
“The Pacific climate warriors are going to do what is needed to help raise awareness of climate impacts across our region, and ensure that this world does not continue down the path that it is on and continue to profit from the wrecking of this planet. Climate change directly threatens their land and their lives and they will do what they must to protect it.”
It is therefore our duty as a nation to back this movement. If we are really concerned with our environment and our future generation this is the time to action. Enough with the exchange of the talking, let’s stand up and fight for our future.
