Coal, oil and gas are called fossil fuels, because they are mostly made of the fossil remains of beings from long ago. The chemical energy within them is a kind of stored sunlight originally accumulated by ancient plants. Our civilization runs by burning the remains of humble creatures who inhabited the Earth hundreds of millions of years before the first humans came on the scene. Like some ghastly cannibal cult, we subsist on the dead bodies of our ancestors and distant relatives.
Carl Sagan in Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
Submitted by Catalin Popescu
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Related quotes
When We Abuse Nature
For the burning of fossil fuels there will be some price to pay
A looming Natural disaster some climate experts say
A looming disaster of destruction and death
Climate change than terrorism to human kind is a far greater threat.
Our abuse of Nature is out of control
Our burning of fossil fuels especially coal
From our Earth Mother who feeds us far too much we have stole
When we dig up her ground we root at Nature's soul.
The things we will destroy ourselves with in Nature we've found
Uranium for nuclear reactors and bomb making should be left in the ground
Other safer forms of energy that humans can use
When we abuse Nature ourselves we abuse.
On polluted or clean air and water we do have a choice
And for our abuse of Nature we will pay the price
It is due to our Earth Mother our gift of life we enjoy
And in trying to destroy her 'tis ourselves we'll destroy.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Since 1850, burning of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas has increased 100 times to produce energy as the world has industrialized to serve the world's more than 6 billion and growing population.
quote by John Olver
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
There is more He-3 energy on the Moon than we have ever had in the form of fossil fuels on Earth. All we have to do is to go there and get it.
quote by Wilson Greatbatch
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
We need an energy revolution by breaking our dependence on fossil fuels, polluting fuels... I am very, very confident our small state will lead this. We will be noticed by the country and the world.
quote by Bernie Sanders
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The scientists who do climate research understand that much of the ever increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere since 1850 must be attributed to burning those fossil fuels to produce the energy that drives industrialization.
quote by John Olver
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
There is hardly an activity that a person can think about that does not intrinsically involve energy, most of which is currently provided by fossil fuels.
quote by Lee R. Raymond
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
You see, the Greenhouse Effect is a direct result of burning fossil or old carbon fuels.
quote by Jack Herer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I find it interesting that many of the people who want to restrict fossil fuels live in well-developed countries where abundant and affordable energy is readily available.
quote by Lee R. Raymond
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The sooner we get started with alternative energy sources and recognize that fossil fuels makes us less secure as a nation, and more dangerous as a planet, the better off we'll be.
quote by Lindsey Graham
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Kowtow Land
For what remains (precious little) ,
America is nurturing a generation
Of unemployed criminals; parents
Are to blame. Lack of education is the core. The love of
Gasoline propels us to doomsday.
I cry as the icecaps melt. Those dread dinosaurs and failed plants that provide fossil fuels are our failure. The
Country moves fundamentally to the right,
Two psychotic women at the fore,
And except for constitutionally exempt tyranny,
We will remain only partially stable. But America is ready to crouch. I have never gripped an agenda, but with this overweening motherhood
Of madness permeating society,
Blaming it all on a President who is only a part blamable,
The road is set.
The other side of the earth must lead,
But leading is too late.
There comes only the summer of our discontent.
poem by Stan Petrovich
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Yet, despite our many advances, our environment is still threatened by a range of problems, including global climate change, energy dependence on unsustainable fossil fuels, and loss of biodiversity.
quote by Dan Lipinski
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Bio-Energy
Energy exists in different forms:
Thermal energy, electrical energy,
Magnetic energy, chemical energy,
Wind energy, solar energy and et al.
Bio-energy consists of chemical,
Thermal, electric, magnetic energy.
Bio-energy confines to bodies
And is distinct from their counterparts
That exist outside the living bodies
In that it as a unit cannot exist
Without the living mass in any way,
That it ceases when bodies disintegrate,
And that it transmits through reproduction.
Bio-energy is only expandable.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The high prices also highlight the fact that the U.S. is too heavily dependent on fossil fuels that we import from unstable parts of the world. To protect our national security, we must become more energy secure.
quote by Dan Lipinski
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Real Revolution
for too long
our bodies have been empty shells
driven by fossil fuels!
occupy Wall Street!
occupy New York!
occupy San Francisco....
occupy the whole damned country!
occupy our bodies!
fill
...the
.....emptiness
w ith
...human
.....desire,
compassion
....understanding
...... and determination!
the real revolution
lies in the human condition!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Climate Change
'Tis said that Bangladesh and Holland will be covered by the sea
And that climate change and global warming will cause World-wide poverty
Yet the advice of climate experts we do never seem to heed
Our disrespect for Mother Nature to our own demise may lead
Millions due to rising of sea water levels of homelessness and poverty will know
Yet for Mother Nature who does feed us little respect we do show
The burning of fossil fuels and noxious gases we pay for in acid rain
And the warnings of the climate experts sad to say have been in vain
Millions of cars and factory chimneys pumping black smoke to the sky
And from long spells of warm weather water reservoirs near dry
Climate change is all around us and climate change it is for real
And if we do not show respect for Nature her wrath we are bound to feel
And Bangladesh and Holland will be covered by sea water within decades it is said
And millions will be homeless and millions will be dead.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Consciousness
Mass and energy is one and the same.
On conversion, they interchange forms.
No gain or no loss is their total sum.
Consciousness runs through them over time.
Water is the essence and consciousness
That runs through ice, steam, mist, dues, fog and frost.
Life energy is the sole consciousness
That runs through plants, animals and humans.
The Universe is constantly evolving.
Living organisms are evolving from the earth
And dissolve into the earth over time.
The consciousness runs through uncut.
Adults give birth to new ones and will die.
The new ones grow to adults and give births.
The adult protrudes its mass and energy
While it itself dissolves into the earth.
Formless consciousness takes variant forms,
Which are, however, impermanent.
Body, senses and mind make human form.
Human form is made of fluent energy.
The energy is undying and unborn.
The life energy manifest in forms
Dies not when the form disintegrates
And only extends when new one develops.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Can You Hook Me Up?
Addiction to fossil fuels
Global warming
Just don't get me started
poem by Tom J. Mariani
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
As long as we're dependent on those fossil fuels, we're dependent on the Middle East. If we are not victims, we're certainly captives.
quote by John McHugh
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
World Energy Crisis
Supplying world energy needs is a great challenge of our time.
So as aspiring populations explode it would no doubt be a crime
Not to harness the atom, empower the waves, as we beckon the sun
To provide all peoples a chance to rise up and someday be someone.
Also power of the winds, along with landfill gas and fossil fuels
Will provide an energy hungry world with indispensable tools.
World population of one billion was not generated until the year 1804.
Today it takes only twelve years to add another billion or more.
By 2050 this growth will result in 8-12 billion and stupendous energy need.
So answers must be discovered everyday for this future world to succeed.
poem by Gregory Huyette
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
In addition to contributing to erosion, pollution, food poisoning, and the dead zone, corn requires huge amounts of fossil fuel - it takes a half gallon of fossil fuel to produce a bushel of corn.
quote by Michael Pollan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!