Aiyanna Nicholson

Professor Matias

ENGL 21003

16 February 2022

                                            Scientific Controversy Essay Proposal 

Introduction: My scientific controversy is the debate over whether or not fossil fuels are sustainable and worth using in the future. Fossil fuels are natural forms of energy that are made from dead plants and animals to provide fuel to things that are essential in our everyday life such as heating and transportation. Fossil fuels bring up a lot of controversy because though it is an efficient source of energy, it emits harmful chemicals into the environment that contribute to global warming. To further draw out the side of those that believe fossil fuels are not sustainable for our future, there is evidence that they pollute the air and since it’s not a renewable resource, if we keep using surpluses of it there will be no way to replenish it and then we would be left at a disadvantage after relying on them for so long . Looking at the side of those that believe fossil fuels are sustainable to our future, many argue that they are easy transport and are able to produce large amounts of energy.

Data: Some data that I found that is against fossil fuels was a graph that showed a spike of greenhouse gasses in the year 2020 that could be attributed to an increase in the amount of fossil fuels being burned. This data tells me that fossil fuels are polluting the environment. Some data I found that supported fossil fuels was a map that showed an approximation of how much fossil fuels there are on earth. This data tells me that although it’s non-renewable energy, there is still plenty of fossil fuels that we can rely on for power. When looking at the graph and map, I thought that the data on it was really straightforward and easy to read.

Sources: 

• The first source I found was a peer reviewed article by; Kotcher, John,  Maibach, Edward ,Choi and Wen-Tsing. In their article, they discussed the effects of air pollution caused by fossil fuels on public health. https://cuny-cc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_CC/gc81bt/cdi_doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_bf1b4689def547aeba83141765eb2b86

• The second source I found was a book by; Smil and Vaclav. In their book, they had a chapter dedicated to fossil fuels and one of the things he pointed out was how much fossil fuels there are for us to use which is ultimately beneficial to us.

https://cuny-cc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_CC/o05rus/alma9994399141806138

• The third source I found was another book written by; Meehan and Gregory . This book had a chapter that explored the uses of fossil fuels and basically why we consume them so much.

https://cuny-cc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_CC/o05rus/alma9994295990806138

Political/Ethical/Personal: On my behalf I would say that I do have a personal bias when it comes to the controversy surrounding fossil fuels because I am an advocate for climate change and have always been fully aware of the damage fossil fuels have on the environment. The media has definitely affected how the general public views my controversy because the news has talked about global warming on various occasions and always mentions how gasses from fossil fuels such as carbon monoxide are contributing to it.

Reflection: I chose this topic because I have always been interested in global warming and pollution and thought about how fossil fuels are really playing into it. When it comes to a solution, I was thinking about how we could gradually switch to sources of renewable energy such as solar energy.