Big businesses boom by extracting coal, petroleum, and natural gas across the world, but other, more catastrophic booms are on the line as these fossil fuels pollute our ecosystem.

Coal is made of dead matter that has been compacted over thousands of years. Although it is continuously made it is considered a nonrenewable resource due to the timeline in comparison to human life, according to Blanchet’s AP Environmental Science class, also known as APES.

Of the three fossil fuels, coal combustion releases the most carbon dioxide, one of the most commonly known greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. Natural gases, on the other hand, release the least amount of carbon dioxide, but large amounts of methane escape from the earth’s surface during the extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Methane, though less abundant than carbon dioxide, is more potent — it retains 25% more heat.

What makes one fossil fuel seem more clean leaves out crucial information. All non-renewable energy sources harm the environment in some way, and as stewards of the earth it is our job to educate each other on these damaging effects in order to make more informed decisions.

Living in a developed nation, fuel is required for many day to day activities that some often take for granted. Charging your phone, turning on the oven, listening to the radio all require fuel. Just because you are not filling up these technologies at the gas station twice a month does not mean that they do not require fossil fuels to function.

By informing others on how they are indirectly polluting the earth, they might control their power usage to do less damage. If society turns to more ecologically friendly energy sources such as solar or wind power, the demand for fossil fuels will decrease and less carbon and toxic compounds will pollute the environment.