To the Journal editor:

This letter is in response to Amy Clickner’s op-ed in The Mining Journal on August 14. In the op-ed, Ms. Clickner, an economic developer, listed her reasons why the Democratic Party’s Council on Climate Change recommendation that the U.S. shift its economy away from fossil fuels like natural gas, is a bad idea.

She stated that shifting away from fossil fuels in Michigan would increase heating and energy costs, cause job losses and the state would lose millions in tax revenues. She also implied that hydraulic fracturing or fracking to obtain natural gas is a good thing.

Over 25 years ago, John Elkington came up with a “sustainable economic model” called the Triple Bottom Line. The Triple-Bottom-Line model says that companies should focus as much attention on social and environmental issues as they do on financial issues. This model states that corporate profit alone is not sustainable for business, people and our planet.

The use of fossil fuels to drive our economy is destructive and is not sustainable. Fracking to get natural gas is contaminating ground water on a massive scale across the United States, causing thousands of people and animals to become sick. Greenhouse gasses generated by fracking and fossil fuels are leading to a real environmental disaster for our planet that will make COVID-19 seem minor in comparison. Scientists believe we must stop the use of fossil fuels within a few years or our planet will become too hot to sustain agriculture and people.

The use of the sun and wind for energy is sustainable, unlimited in supply and doesn’t cost anything. Switching our economy to one based on renewable energy like solar and wind, creates far more jobs than the fossil fuel industry with no harmful environmental impacts. Solar energy is the #1 growing job market/industry in the United States today!

There are over 126,000 jobs in clean energy in Michigan and many of these new jobs are located in rural areas. New tax revenues are also flowing to rural towns in Michigan because of new wind turbine projects, which help pay for schools and other community needs.

The future economic model must be based on renewable energy and it is already working wonders in Michigan and around the world! To learn more about how renewable energy is helping our Michigan economy visit the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association website at www.2glrea.org.