CLAIM: A Tweep with a verified account, Alex Epstein on April 12 in a Twitter post, quoted Dennis Prager to claim that fossil fuel is not an enemy to humans, but a friend.
The post has enjoyed close to 8000 views, 46 retweets, and 156 likes between then and May 24.
“Fossil fuel is not our enemy; it’s our friend. Alex Epstein is an original and courageous thinker who explains this better than anyone. If you want to think clearly (and morally) about fossil fuels (and you must), you need to read this superb book”, Epstein posted.
“Fossil fuel is not our enemy; it’s our friend. Alex Epstein is an original and courageous thinker who explains this better than anyone. If you want to think clearly (and morally) about fossil fuels (and you must), you need to read this superb book”
–@DennisPrager pic.twitter.com/pCsUVovk5B
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) April 12, 2023
INVESTIGATION: Fossil fuels are compound mixtures made of fossilised plant and animal remnants from millions of years ago. The creation of fossil fuels—either oil, natural gas, or coal—from these fossils is determined by the type of fossil, the amount of heat, and the amount of pressure.
Fossil fuels are used to produce energy; in the home they are burned to produce heat, in large power stations they are used to produce electricity and they are also used to power engines.
However, when fossil fuels are burned, they release nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, which contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain. The presence of excess nitrogen in the atmosphere in the form of nitrogen oxides or ammonia is deposited back onto land, where it washes into nearby water bodies.
The bonds between the Hydrogen and Carbon atoms store energy, by burning the compounds in the presence of Oxygen the bonds are broken and the stored energy is converted to heat energy, forming Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the process.
These excess nutrients according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contribute to pollution, harmful algal blooms and oxygen-deprived aquatic zones. Excess ammonia and low potential of hydrogen (pH) in these areas are toxic to aquatic organisms and affect their survival.
As a result of this, fossil fuels are blamed for the changes in the planet’ Earth, which have attendant consequences on humans, plants and other organisms.
The ClientEarth said when fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air. Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming. Already the average global temperature has increased by 1C. Warming above 1.5°C risks further sea level rise, extreme weather, biodiversity loss and species extinction, as well as food scarcity, worsening health and poverty for millions of people worldwide.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations has found that emissions from fossil fuels are the dominant cause of global warming. In 2018, 89% of global CO2 emissions came from fossil fuels and industry.
IPCC, which consists of more than 200 scientists, said coal is a fossil fuel, and is the dirtiest of them all, responsible for over 0.3C of the 1C increase in global average temperatures. This makes it the single largest source of global temperature rise.
Oil, according to the panel, releases a huge amount of carbon when burned – approximately a third of the world’s total carbon emissions. There have also been a number of oil spills in recent years that have a devastating impact on our ocean’s ecosystem.
Similarly, natural gas, it said, is often promoted as a cleaner energy source than coal and oil. However, natural gas is still a fossil fuel and accounts for a fifth of the world’s total carbon emissions.
As climate change caused by fossil fuels burning exacerbates more extreme weather events and environmental disasters threaten wildlife and human health, more people are banking on clean, carbon-free energy to speed the world’s transition away from fossil fuels and slow global warming.
Ending the planet’s reliance on fossil fuels is critical to curbing the climate crisis, renewable energy which includes nuclear power, hydrogen, biomass, geothermal energy, solar, and wind among others have is identified as the alternative to energy sources.
CONCLUSION: A claim that fossil fuel is not an enemy to humans, but a friend is FALSE. Studies show fossil fuel burning is largely responsible for the rising world’s temperature; hence it becomes critical to end the planet’s reliance on them.
This fact-check was produced by BONews Service with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, International Fact-Checking Network, and African Fact Checking Alliance network.