The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Alex Epstein
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Alex Epstein
6 Rating(s)
List: $16.99 | Sale: $11.89
Club: $8.49

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Author: Alex Epstein

Narrator: Alex Epstein

Unabridged: 6 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/24/2015


Synopsis

For decades, environmentalists have told us that using fossil fuels is a self-destructive addiction that will destroy our planet. Yet 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 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 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.

About Alex Epstein

Alex Epstein is founder and president of the Center for Industrial Progress, as well as the author of Fossil Fuels Improve the Planet. He is a regular columnist at Forbes.com, and his writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Investor's Business Daily, among hundreds of other publications. A philosopher by training, he challenges many of our era's popular notions about energy, industry, and environment, routinely engaging environmentalists in open debate over the big-picture benefits of fossil fuels and nuclear power. His work has garnered both heavy praise from supporters and fierce opposition from adversaries, and has changed the way thousands think about energy. Alex lives in California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by L.A. on June 08, 2015

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, if you only read one non-fiction book in the next five years, this should be the one. Epstein, an outsider with a background in philosophy, reframes the energy debate in terms of standards of value: the "non-impact" group (traditionally called environmentalists) vs......more

Goodreads review by Douglas on August 20, 2017

What an outstanding book. I really enjoyed this inversion of all the bromides that the chattering classes think they are supposed to teach the rest of us. First rate book.......more

Goodreads review by Donald on March 21, 2015

It is too bad the topic of energy has been hi-jacked by the black and white when life is actually lived in the silvers, slates and pearly grays. I start my Goodreads quest by looking at the 5 star and 1 star reviewers. For Epstein's book it was interesting to see only one 1-star review and that pers......more

Goodreads review by Zachary on June 18, 2015

"Here, in a sentence, is the moral case for fossil fuels, the single thought that can empower us to empower the world: 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......more

Goodreads review by Brian on January 24, 2015

"The popular climate discussion has the issue backward. It looks at man as a destructive force for climate livability, one who makes the climate dangerous because we use fossil fuels. In fact, the truth is the exact opposite; we don’t take a safe climate and make it dangerous; we take a dangerous cl......more