Every day millions of people drive their automobiles to work where they spend the day in a well lit workspace. Yet, they never give a second thought to the source of the energy that their daily lives depends on. Over eighty-five percent of the energy that powers the planet is derived from the burning of fossil fuels (Information 16). Fossil fuels contain impurities and these "impurities such as sulfur also burn and produce potentially dangerous oxides" which are released into the air (Burning www 1). Releasing these oxides into the air has many consequences including smog, which is the most noticeable of these problems. The

To add to the list of health and environmental problems associated with the burning of fossil fuels, global warming is also a major threat. "Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere" (EPA 1). Carbon dioxide along with many other gases are building up in the Earth's atmosphere which, traps heat and is causing the Earth's temperature to increase (EPA 1). Since the industrial revolution the snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean have decreased due to global warming. This melt-off has also caused the world's sea level to rise over four inches in the past century (EPA 2).

Besides the health and environmental problems caused by the burning of fossil fuel there are many other problems. One of the most pressing of these problems is the undeniable fact that "fossil fuels are an exhaustible resource that will eventually run out"(Cole 28). When the worlds supply of fossil fuels runs out there is no way to replenish this non-renewable resource and the world will be forced to find an alternative energy source. However, there is debate over how long we have before we exhaust our source of fossil fuels. The majority of all scientists in this field agree that there is a 95% possibility that the worlds remaining oil resources will last sixty-three more years at the current rate of consumption (Oil 1). In other words, in the near future the world must begin to rely on a new energy source to

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Approximate Word count = 1009
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)