Fossil fuels are nothing more or less than the stored energy of some 500 million years of sunlight on the living beings which absorbed and otherwise utilized that solar energy, and then perished, leaving behind the hydrocarbon molecules created by this solar energy. What isn't recognized, understood, or acted upon, is the reality that the lifeforms that died off took with them carbon that made the planet far too warm for the likes of mammals, especially fragile human beings who survived mass extinctions before – but which were caused by ice ages, meaning humans have survived because of an adaptation to the cold.

Simply put, the open-loop use of fossil fuels to provide the basis for a massive human civilization has restored to the atmosphere that carbon which in previously being sequestered had allowed for the evolution and survival of mankind in the first place. In other words, our use of fossil fuels to create our great societies has cost us our future as a species. We have literally fueled our own demise by tapping the fuel that in being created, allowed for our existence.

But there is a way to use fossil fuels without the threat to our future: we simply close the loop.

A closed loop is a concept where in the case of fossil fuel use, the energy would be the only thing we extract and use and the waste products of harnessing that energy would be re-sequestered. In terms of the chemical makeup of fossil fuels themselves, this means that the hydrocarbon molecules are used for their energy only, and then returned to where they were found or where they will otherwise not be available to the atmosphere. As a metaphor, our present use of fossil fuels is like dragging the corpses of long-dead animals out of the ground and transporting the remains around the world to be burned for fuel, and the exhaust released to the atmosphere. Why can't we simply extract the energy from the dead organisms and return them to their grave?

While a close-loop approach sounds quite logical, it is not recognized by human society in terms of the use of natural resources and thus is not even considered, much less utilized. Human society instead uses an open loop concept – in the example of fossil fuels, the hydrocarbons are extracted from their sequestered location, consumed, and the waste products are released to the atmosphere. Put that way, it's easy to see how global warming can easily be attributed to mankind's use of fossil fuels, especially considering that the plants and animals that were turned into coal and oil were around long before mammals could have evolved.

It is quite simple to close the loop on fossil fuel consumption and extract only the energy. Indeed, all of the relevant technology already exists. The problem is a matter of imagination and will on the part of those who we allow to dictate our lives, and thus our failure to motivate our leaders to act to mitigate the problems they have created.

All that has to be done is to extract the energy, not the fuel, from the wells and coal fields. And then, rather than shipping the fuel all over and allowing just anyone to burn it and release the obviously dangerous chemicals back into the atmosphere 500 million years after being removed; you simply use the energy where you find it, convert it to something we can actually use (safely), and return the chemicals themselves back into the ground or otherwise into a safe form that humans can never put into the atmosphere.

There are many ways this can be accomplished, and in doing so, we can actually create a much better world for people everywhere. Imagine for example automated factories among oil fields, using energy extracted without release of any exhaust, and electric vehicles and ships charged by the same energy so that their goods can be shipped to where they are needed. This would significantly reduce the need for human labor and free us up to do things like improving infrastructure, or even bettering ourselves as societies. We don't need all of that energy at home, so solar, wind, and other alternative forms of energy can easily be used to generate the little bit of energy we need for our homes. Of course, another benefit to having industry located at the source of fossil fuels is that industry will no longer be able to interfere with our domestic lives.

The problem of global climate change being caused by mankind's use of fossil fuels must of course be seen as a problem for it to be solved. But the matter is highly complex, and not even most climate scientists fully understand the problem. So the solution must be philosophical, not one of educating the public. The general public cannot possibly be expected to understand open and closed loop concepts, nor the complex chemistry of hydrocarbons.

A logical, rational being would understand the logic behind the notion of asking oneself “what if I'm wrong.” But society doesn't seem to be logical nor rational, as society has not asked itself whether or not it's position on the use of fossil fuels is tenable. Perhaps then, if we simply made people realize that fossil fuels are just that, the fuels created by fossilized plants and animals whose demise paved the way for ourselves; the mere notion of having respect for the dead might serve to remind people of the dangers of digging up the dinosaurs, whose rein ended so that ours could begin. Perhaps, if people could understand and respect the long-dead, we might not share the same fate.

Close-loop use of fossil fuels for energy is entirely possible, and a necessity if mankind wishes to continue to use this dangerous source of energy, whose storage in the earth made our existence possible. And unless every man, woman, and child on this planet intends for the human species to be extinct, we must close the loop on fossil fuel use.