Dear Mr. President,

Gas is hurting the environment, people’s wallets, and the world. Sooner or later the burden gas is putting on the planet will get worse and cause terrible things. We need to start using alternative energy, especially nuclear, to save the planet. Like congressman Michael Burgess said, “Nuclear power will help provide the electricity that our growing economy needs without increasing emissions. This is truly an environmentally responsible source of energy.”

My connection to this issue, as someone who goes outside and enjoys nature often, is that I feel a great need to improve our environment and make the world a better place. Also, as a youth, I will be around at the time 60 years from now when we are predicted to run out of oil. If we aren’t prepared for when the oil does run out, society will fall apart and the world will be changed forever.

There are many advantages to using alternate energy, the following are just a few. One advantage is that using alternative energy greatly reduces carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere, reducing the risk of losing it. Another is that nuclear energy is the most reliable energy source today because of how often nuclear power plants can operate. One thing that prevents a lot of people from using nuclear power is that they are scared of how dangerous it is. What they don’t know is that nuclear energy has the lowest death per energy unit rate. Also, there are many types of alternate energy, which have the capability of employing much more people than gas can. Lastly, the price of gas has been known to continually rise to outrageous prices, but the types of alternate energy that are renewable have no reason to increase in price and will most likely stay very stable over the years.

Why is this issue so relevant? Today, I feel that our depleting energy sources should be one of the most discussed topics among government leaders. Gas is becoming more scarce every day and people are suffering from it. Because of the need for gas, countries are fighting over it and causing needless violence. In addition, like said before, gas is hurting our environment, which also will affect the world if something doesn’t change. In summary, the burden that gas is putting on the world is too much to handle and should be one of the top priorities to fix.

The following are arguments that people pose when given the idea of using alternate energy as a primary power source.

Isn’t nuclear energy dangerous?

Nuclear energy actually has the lowest rate of deaths per unit of energy used.

What about nuclear waste? Isn’t that almost impossible to dispose of?

It is very hard to dispose of, but nuclear power plants produce much less waste than other fuels, like coal. Also, people are trying to develop a way to reuse nuclear waste, which would make it a renewable resource.

Isn’t alternative energy much less powerful than gas?

Most alternative energy is less powerful than gas, except for nuclear energy, which is even more powerful. Also, other alternative energy is very cheap, so you can produce much more of it to even out the lack of power it has.

To solve the issue of finding a new type of energy to depend on, the country should start using alternative energy but mainly focus on nuclear energy and eventually, over 40 years, completely switch over to using other forms of energy. Many people along with professionals believe that we can and need to achieve this. The near future will be one of the biggest events in history when we run out of gasoline, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Kinzer