# The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels **URL:** **By** Alex Epstein, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus **Published:** December 15, 2014 --- Alex Epstein joins us for a discussion on fossil fuel use. How much have fossil fuels benefited humanity? Is there a moral case for their use? This week we're talking about energy, and specifically the fossil fuels that power everything in our modern world from electronics to manufacturing to heating to our trains, planes, busses, boats, and cars. What’s the “secret history of fossil fuels?” What is the moral case for using fossil fuels? Is it possible to eventually get renewable sources of energy to work well? If using fossil fuels is bad for the environment, should we care? Or is that the wrong way of looking at it? How much has fossil fuel use benefited humanity? Can that be quantified? **Show Notes and Further Reading** Alex Epstein, [_The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels_](http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Case-Fossil-Fuels/dp/1591847443/) (book) Indur Goklany, ["Reducing Vulnerability to Climate-Sensitive Risks is the Best Insurance Policy"](http://www.cato-unbound.org/2008/08/17/indur-goklany/reducing-vulnerability-climate-sensitive-risks-best-insurance-policy) (essay) [The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels](http://www.cato.org/events/moral-case-fossil-fuels) (Cato Capitol Hill Briefing video)