If at the end of the 18th century it began to develop with the invention of the steam engine, it developed until its explosion in the middle of the 20th century with the development of transport and technologies that allowed exploiting a large scale of all the planet’s resources that can be profitable.
The exploitation of fossil fuels will revolutionize the automotive, railway and aviation industries, turning oil into fuel, but not only. From the distillation column are extracted from top to bottom: butane and propane gases, petrochemicals, kerosene, gasoline, gas oil, fuel oil and bitumen. Fossil fuels also include natural gas, which is mainly composed of methane, from which ethane, butane and propane are extracted by fractionation and, finally, coal formed as a result of petrification of plants. The conversion of this solid fuel gives the coking of cast iron and steel, then carbon chemistry, pharmaceuticals, pharmacy, explosives, resins, fertilizers, textiles, plastics, dyes, perfumes. …
Within the framework described, we can measure the degree to which fossil fuels are presented as raw materials in industrial development in terms of means and consumer goods as diverse as they are. Who to throw a stone at? We can sue wealthy investors who have founded a large manufacturing industry to deliver goods to mass enterprises around the world. The development of transport has allowed us, consumers, to have any product, regardless of its source. But we must put supply and demand close to each other and, perhaps, make ourselves feel guilty, realizing that ultimately it is our demand that quantifies supply. Can we pull back?
Local and seasonal consumers, we talk or hear about it, but the transition to the act is a utopia. Our carbon footprint is increasing every time we consume a product that travels hundreds or thousands of kilometers and we contribute to global warming. Moving towards a systematic preference for the most environmentally friendly modes of transport is a utopia at a time when we are trying to develop a bicycle self-service system in big cities and where car manufacturers present a series of vehicles. Sales of SUVs are growing rapidly, and SUVs are still out of production lines.
Oddly enough, in automotive and advertising programs, fuel consumption and carbon emissions are no longer displayed. Limiting global warming to 2 ° C is a utopia, and there has never been an underestimation of the increase in temperature, the acceleration of the melting of glaciers and the Arctic ice sheet, causing an increase in sea level and oceans. Believing that the planet will be able to support 10 billion people at the end of the century is utopian, while rising levels of the oceans will significantly reduce the surface of the continents, while the currently available drinking water is not equally distributed and not enough for 7.5 billion we. Believe us, we will cope with the migration crisis from countries at war, or from geographical areas where living conditions are no longer reunited due to lack of water and food resources, because of epidemics caused by the spread of viruses that mutate much faster, than research.
Our planet – our home. Eden for those people who in desperation endanger their lives and the lives of their children, relying on a meeting of a humanitarian ship before accepting the country … or not! but what position to take in the face of such a cruel dilemma that balances the limits of reception possibilities and the impossibility of refusing to help them. It should be understood that this outflow will continue to grow, and that all those who are not eligible for a visa and sent home will again try their luck and can increase the dramatic balance of the thousands of deaths announced in the first half of 2018 … undoubtedly underestimated.
Believing that we can avoid the mass extinction of large mammals, fish that are victims of overfishing … this is utopia. The reasons for this are numerous and accumulate: over-exploitation of resources for food purposes, when part of the countryside does not fall into flour for feeding farm animals, various sources of pollution (pesticides and other chemicals, hydrocarbons).