What are the non-climate costs of using fossil fuels?
Fossil fuels impose a multitude of environmental and social costs apart from destabilizing climate. Chief among them are “traditional” air pollution such as car and truck exhaust and smokestack emissions; damage to land and water from extracting and transporting fuels; and the militarism, income inequality and political authoritarianism that is evidently endemic to extractive economies (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Indonesia). Many researchers believe that these and other “indirect” costs exceed the “market” prices paid for coal, oil and gas.
