Whether global warming is man made or not, isnt it still a good idea to cut down on fossil fuels?

Its wise, Conservation is always wise, But not Getting rid of our electricity and transportation---That's Socialist Scare tactics, designed to wreck the economy and help enslave us.----And aslo so we cant blame THEM for the shortages inherent in their system.

I'd buy an electric truck just to help put those sand rats in Midwest out of business.

It all depends. Being frugal is always a good thing. However, at what lengths will we go through to reduce consumption? Take, for instance, the Brits reduced heating fuel consumption by raising prices and taxes and it resulted in over 2000 deaths in one year. The suppliers were happy since they made their profit. And the funeral homes were happy, they made their profit. The Government was happy, they increased taxes. But a lot of people were miserable. Those that survived were extremely uncomfortable and sick. Those that didn't make it, well, you know. I'm sure those who made such laws and rules never went cold. 

This is only one case. There are many more like this one. This conservation always hurts the little guy and never those who are making the policies. 

As for your acid rain, they had acid rain in Christ's time. Are you going to blame that on petroleum?  Come on, get your facts straight. 

As far as 'don't grow on trees' is concerned. Wrong! Petroleum is dead trees and such that nature has processed into condensed energy. Let us say that you had a fifteen-gallon tank of gasoline. It is roughly 2 cubic feet. How far can you go on that 2 cubic feet? Let us say that you had a gas guzzler. It would only go 100 miles out of that 2 cubic feet. Now chop down a tree and take two cubic feet of wood. How far down the road can you get with that? So what is wrong with letting nature assist us in making us energy efficient? Now let us take that tree and produce alcohol, you would only get about 60 miles out of that same 2 cubic feet. And what about the energy it takes to produce that alcohol? You have to subtract that from the 60 miles. 

So your analogy is great for the logic of third graders, but when you really think about it, it really doesn't make sense.

There are ways to conserve energy that won't hurt you and me. For instance, why take a jet halfway around the world to have a conference on energy conservation? Does that make sense? How about making roads and traffic more efficient? A car that is idling produces about thirty times more pollution than a car that is going down the road. 

I'm all for making traffic more efficient. I'm all for reducing needless consumption of energy. However, conserve it where it benefits mankind in general. It can be done.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX .

Yep. Not to mention it gets the producers out of my pocket. 

I think the problem is that environmental groups and politicians have done an extremely bad job of explaining the benefits of 'renewable' energy sources. And I should point out I'm a global warming 'alarmist' who believes we should be reducing our CO2 emissions.

If you take wind and solar, for example, these are not replacements for fossil fuels. What they really are are fuel saving devices - when they are generating power, you can reduce the output from your fossil fuel plants and save that precious, finite fuel. We will always have fossil fuel plants to provide a stable base. But by adding these renewables into the mix, we reduce our CO2 output and if we have enough of them, then it becomes possible to offset the emissions by sequestering, filtering, planting trees, etc. The aim then would be to reach a carbon neutral situation.

Even if you ignore CO2 emissions, there are benefits in doing this. 

Fossil fuel technology has been around for a very long time. It's pretty much as good as it is going to get. We're not going to see some huge improvement in the efficiency of generators or the burning processes. We're not going to see some innovation that will slash costs. Wind and solar are new technologies and are are already competitive with fossil fuels in terms of costs. In most US states it is now cheaper to produce energy by onshore wind farms than coal, oil, or natural gas. The point is these new technologies are on a downward cost curve and the more we deploy the cheaper they get. So it makes economic sense since we can actually save money!

Fossil fuel prices are notoriously volatile ... it is why your petrol prices fluctuate. Reducing fuel imports, generating more power domestically, and freeing companies from that volatility also makes sense. It also improves security since we become less dependent on Middle Eastern nations to supply it. Our older contributors will remember fuel shortages in the 70s when Iran stopped production to hurt the West, and more recently when Russia cut gas pipelines to western Europe.

And of course, it improves air quality in our towns and cities. Particularly if we start shifting to electric cars which are mobile batteries capable of storing that renewable energy. One of the problems with wind and solar is that peak production may happen when demand is low. But if there are huge numbers of electric vehicles then irrespective of when these peaks happen, you will have millions of vehicles at any given time connected to the grid.

Your question seems to imply that we just extract fossil fuels willy nilly and burn them without purpose.  Since it costs money to keep my house cool, I only cool it moderately.  I choose to "cut down" on fossil fuel use.  Having political zealots trying to control my use isn't a good idea.  It may be a good idea for Cuban's or North Koreans that don't give a ratsass about their citizens but it is a horrible idea for a free society.  The point is, we already cut down the use.  

I agree. So much wrong is perpetrated for the sake of profit at the expense of everything else. Technology is not the answer.

Humanity is on the brink of destruction. The hate and the us vs them will be the end of society as we know it. We are headed towards a nuclear war that will affect us all.

We need to change our priorities: curb the competition and embrace cooperation, stop the unsustainable consumer lifestyle we are being convinced we need and choose people instead of things.

It truly starts with each one of us. We can change our negative attitudes and try to make sense of our rude neighbour's behaviour. Am I doing something to offend him or does he have issues at home? Am I being good to my spouse or only thinking of myself?

It seems too simplistic an answer to the world's problems, but if you think through the domino effect of negative, selfish behaviour, it will lead you to unfair laws and lobbyists who push for decisions/laws that screw the consumer so their company can make bigger profits.

Starting a new, positive wave is hard when you are unhappy or discriminated against or been wronged...I get that.

But who else if not you?

Yes, of course. 

However, that's not a KNOWLEDGE seeking question, but asking others to agree with you (chat violation).

do not feed the troll...spam troll....fake account sock puppet of Barking Wolf spider.......................