Is it ethical to use natural gas?

Answer 1

It could be argued that when you burn natural gas and produce carbon dioxide as a combustion byproduct, you are contributing to global warming which therefore is not ethical - however, we have to put this in perspective. Everything that human beings do, has some carbon footprint. Every time you exhale, there is excess carbon dioxide in your breath that results from your metabolism. Every aspect of human civilization uses some form of energy, and all energy sources have some form of environmental cost. It would not be reasonable to tell people that they cannot cook their food, even though cooking food involves energy consumption and has an environmental impact. We cannot at this point revert to a hunting and gathering society that finds food in the forest and does not manufacture anything; even if that was the lifestyle we wanted, the world does not have nearly enough forest to allow the current population of seven billion people to live that way. So there are going to have to be other solutions. We have, at this point, created a world that is so highly dependent upon technology that we cannot just give up technology, we need instead to use technology more effectively.

It should also be noted that natural gas, although it does produce carbon dioxide when burned, is an exceptionally clean fossil fuel, compared to either coal or petroleum. It does not produce smog, and it does not contribute to acid rain; it only contributes to global warming. So as fossil fuels go, it is the best.

Of course there are also ways to obtain energy that do not involve burning fossil fuels. You can use electricity that is generated by nuclear power, and that does not release greenhouse gases. But sometimes it does release a lot of radioactivity. So there are still environmental costs.

The world's population of seven billion people will inevitably cause environmental stress, no matter what decisions they may make about the resources that they consume. Seven billion people are going to consume a lot of resources, one way or another. That is the most fundamental environmental problem, not the use of natural gas.

So in conclusion, go ahead, use natural gas. It's OK.