True Cost I

The hidden costs of burning fossil fuels

Every time I read that solar power is not yet on a financial par with fossil fuels, my blood temperature begins to rise. If ever there were a skewed statement this is it. To simply equate cost with the price paid by the consumer for a kilowatt hour is to be wearing enormous blinders that prevent one from seeing anything to the left or right or very far ahead. It is an irresponsible statement; one which we might expect from a representative of the coal industry, for example, but which should not pass a journalist’s lips.

Let’s remove the blinder on the left. This enables us to see the outrageous fact that the fossil fuel industry is heavily subsidized. A recent report from the International Monetary Fund says global subsidies to fossil fuels amount to $1.9 trillion a year. At the same time, ExxonMobil and Shell earned profits in 2012 of $35 billion (Exxon) and $18.9 billion (Shell). As President Obama said in his recent Georgetown speech on the climate action plan, “…tax dollars continue to still subsidize some of the most profitable corporations in the history of the world”.

Now for the blinder on the right – here we see the hidden health costs of burning fossil fuels. Consider statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), which say that more than 800,000 people die prematurely in the US each year from urban air pollution, most of which comes from burning fossil fuels. Furthermore, transportation “powered by internal combustion engines”, particularly automobiles, reduces the amount of exercise Americans get, so that the WHO estimates that almost 2 million people die prematurely each year because of reduced physical fitness. It is obvious that these hidden health costs are measured not only in dollars, but in human anguish as well.

And now let’s look ahead, at the environmental costs of burning fossil fuels. We hear a lot about these nowadays, all the way from oil spills to severe storms to global warming and its gigantic effects. The cost in dollars is so overwhelming that it stuns us; the cost in disrupted lives, future mass migration away from coastal communities, drastic changes in farming patterns, yet more health problems etc. etc. is incalculable.

Who pays for these hidden costs? Certainly not the subsidized fossil fuel companies. They claim no one would buy their products if the monetary costs were greater…well, yes, isn’t that the idea? Basically we consumers “vote with our wallets”, and more costly gasoline, for instance, might force us to move ahead into the future – on public transport, electric automobiles and bikes – and into demanding greater subsidies for alternative energy sources. The market makes the decisions in our society; responsibility falls into the laps of those who make the purchases. In the words of the comic strip character Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us”.

Energy sources make up one major environmental field with hidden costs, food and agriculture make up another. That’s the subject for next week.