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It’s a Wonderful Life Without Fossil Fuels: What George Bailey and Bedford Falls Teach Us About Energy and Civilization
Watts Up With That ^ | December 25, 2024 | Charles Rotter

Posted on 12/26/2024 8:48:07 AM PST by citizen

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is one of cinema’s most enduring classics, a sentimental yet profound exploration of how one person’s contributions ripple through a community. The story’s alternate timeline, where George Bailey never existed, paints a grim picture of what life would be like without his sacrifices. Inspired by this tale, let’s imagine an alternate reality of a different sort—a world where fossil fuels never existed. Could we, like George’s Bedford Falls, find ourselves in a global Pottersville? Let’s explore how the absence of fossil fuels might affect the very fabric of our lives, from economic systems to daily conveniences, and why this thought experiment is crucial in evaluating the ongoing calls to abandon these energy sources.

(Excerpt) Read more at wattsupwiththat.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: energy; farming; fertilizer; fossilfuels; fuels; hydrocarbons; nuclear; nucleareenergy; nuclearenergy; nuclearpower; oil; petrochemicals; petroleum; resources; standardsofliving; transportation
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Conclusion--We'd all be living, barely, in Pottersvilles of varying sizes.

In It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey realizes that his sacrifices and hard work were not in vain—they built a community that thrived because of him. Similarly, fossil fuels have been the “George Bailey” of the modern world, powering our transition from subsistence to abundance.

As we confront the challenges of energy policy and climate change, we should take a lesson from Bedford Falls. Instead of demonizing the energy sources that built our world, we should seek balanced solutions that preserve the benefits of modernity while addressing genuine environmental concerns. A world without fossil fuels might look idyllic in the abstract, but in practice, it would resemble a dystopian Pottersville—harsh, impoverished, and unrecognizably bleak.

Fossil fuels, like George Bailey, are far from perfect, but without them, our modern “wonderful life” would never have come to be.

1 posted on 12/26/2024 8:48:07 AM PST by citizen
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To: citizen

climate change is just global warming renamed ,LOL


2 posted on 12/26/2024 8:51:37 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: citizen

We already know what a life without fossil fuels looks like. Feudalism. Slavery. Short life spans. 50% infant morality.

Leftists crave these things


3 posted on 12/26/2024 8:52:24 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: butlerweave
I disagree with the author's final sentence.

Fossil fuels are actually pretty darned perfect.

4 posted on 12/26/2024 8:54:06 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: butlerweave

Climate Change is the religion of wealthy Leftists


5 posted on 12/26/2024 8:55:16 AM PST by AppyPappy (If Hitler were alive today and criticized Trump, would he still be Hitler?)
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To: citizen

Trains would be powered by steam, created by coal, A fossil fuel.


6 posted on 12/26/2024 8:56:43 AM PST by Daveinyork ( )
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To: citizen

It so happens that my wife and I watched that movie Tuesday evening.


7 posted on 12/26/2024 8:58:11 AM PST by Daveinyork ( )
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To: Seruzawa

They crave them for you & me. In their mind, we suffer but not them.

They are too stupid, silly and fanatic to realize everyone would be scralbling to simply get by, even the well to do.


8 posted on 12/26/2024 8:58:30 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: Daveinyork

I think yes, there’s\d still be coal but less of it for almost everyone and at greater expense.


9 posted on 12/26/2024 9:00:00 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: citizen

without modern forms of energy we’d ALL be relegated to only two forms of congregant community...living like the Amish or the muslim. best to choose Amish living because they won’t force compliance with their simple standards of living. “no work, no food” is a simple standard.


10 posted on 12/26/2024 9:00:43 AM PST by Qwapisking (Q: know the difference between a petulant 6 y.o. and a liberal? A:age. L.Star )
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To: citizen

All production is based on expenditure of energy

It could be a cave-man collecting berries and weaving his own shirt from straw

Or he could employ an ox’s greater energy to grow more crops

Or he could invent a coal-steam engine and grow even more food and create vast looms to weave cloth and make other tools.

Money is an abstract human-created (often government-imposed) concept to represent the totality of this production. If government prints more money, it doesn’t create more goods. It only causes prices to rise.

Therefore, money is just an abstract measure of energy expended.

And debt is claim on future energy expenditure.

NO country has ever become richer by expending less total energy. A nation or culture may develop better energy sources, or become more efficient, but expending less energy and becoming more prosperous is an absolute impossibility

SO access to cheap supplies of energy is the absolute one thing Trump, the GOP and any sensible government official can do to help general prosperity and their own political power.

It also is clear the democrat-left plans to limit energy will ALWAYS be self-defeating.


11 posted on 12/26/2024 9:01:17 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Daveinyork

I forgot how good the movie is. Watched it recently and was wowed all over again.


12 posted on 12/26/2024 9:06:33 AM PST by freepertoo
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To: citizen

“Fossil” fuels aren’t perfection by any means, but they sure are way ahead of “green energy” which many think are the future but by now have pretty much proven not to be. I guess it depends on which future you are thinking of...the foreseeable future or the future predicted in God’s word. That one may not include the so-called “fossil” fuels but we don’t know that as in regard to the Millenium. After that, I doubt that any fuel will exist, but then again I do not know.


13 posted on 12/26/2024 9:09:01 AM PST by oldtech
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To: freepertoo

I usually watch is several times at Christmastime.


14 posted on 12/26/2024 9:16:01 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: citizen
I guarantee you that the homes in Pottersville were heated with coal, as they gathered bathed in Christmas warmth 'round the Christmas tree.

"Every time an angel rings the bell, another Democrat goes to hell …"

15 posted on 12/26/2024 9:16:58 AM PST by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and His mercy endureth forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: PGR88

We would get a large and perhaps a long-lasting dose of an 1800s style of living if the Sun decides to give us another EMP of the size of the Carrington Event or greater.

If of sufficient size, the violent disruptions, misery and death toll would be immediate and almost incalculable.


16 posted on 12/26/2024 9:24:22 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: citizen

And Tennessee Ernie Ford would be singing about less than sixteen tons.


17 posted on 12/26/2024 9:51:18 AM PST by Daveinyork ( )
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

LOL...well, I’d rather they be saved by turning from the dark side.


18 posted on 12/26/2024 9:52:10 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: Daveinyork

Yes, we’d be depending on John Henrys and black powder for the coal extraction.


19 posted on 12/26/2024 9:53:48 AM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: Daveinyork

Before that trains ran on wood…. There goes a lot of trees.


20 posted on 12/26/2024 10:07:32 AM PST by kaktuskid
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