“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Energy created without oil, gas, or coal is called all sorts of things, including renewable energy, green energy, and clean energy. The names are interchangeable, and I use them all, but I prefer the last. Most stories tend to focus on the “energy” aspect, but today I’m taking a minute to appreciate the “clean” part of clean energy.
“Wow, this smoggy air is amazing”, said no one ever. A universal truth is that being outside in fresh, clean air is invigorating and makes us feel better. This is one reason so many of us escape to parks, mountains, lakes, golf courses, and beaches in our free time.
Imagine biking or walking down a road without inhaling exhaust from tailpipes, or strolling around your neighborhood free from the fumes of gas-powered lawn equipment. Envision walking down city streets without ever breathing smog, or seeing solar panels instead of smoke stacks on factories. These aren’t distant fantasies. They are all within reach.
The clean part
Clean energy options like solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower reduce the need for fossil fuels and their heat-trapping emissions. The bonus is they also cut air pollution. So, if you know someone who isn’t concerned about climate change, they may care that clean energy has an equally important upside: better air for us to breathe.
Air pollution is not just a nuisance, it’s making people sick and killing an estimated 200,000 Americans each year. Side note, air pollution can be inside our homes too. Improving air quality will pay massive dividends through lower healthcare costs and better quality of life.
Even if transitioning to clean energy wouldn’t help solve climate change, it would be worth doing it for cleaner air alone.
Fossil fuels revolutionized our lives, but now that we know the downsides, we can take a cleaner path forward. Why wouldn’t we want that? Change is hard and is sometimes scary, but better days are ahead if we take the leap.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.