Crude Oil Shipping Derailment.

      In North Dakota's Bakken oil fields, crude oil is obtained and then shipped to other places in North America via train, including the tiny town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, Canada. Just a few days ago, a train carrying a large supply of crude oil (which is much more potent than normal oil or fuel) derailed due to out of date railroad tracks and wreaked havoc on Lac-Megantic, where crude oil leaked into the surrounding area, including the water and wildlife, and resulted in 20 killed and 30 missing people.

      To prevent disasters like these occurring, we can either stop shipping such powerful forms of fuel by train or  slowly eliminate the use for such dangerous fossil fuels by moving towards other forms of energy, like solar or wind power. However, if we can not ship these fuels by train, how will we? Other forms of transportation are just as dangerous when crude oil is involved, such as a boat or plane crash. The problem with other forms of energy is the transition from one to another. It is very expensive for these new energy sources, and would require a total redo of the economy and the life of an average person because our economy would drop these harmful fossil fuels (eliminating the need for gas stations and countless oil-drilling jobs) and would pick up these new energy sources, which would be adapted to everyday life (like solar panels on houses and cars).

       Personally, this train derailment in Quebec was a disaster, and a rare one at that. Fossil fuels are harmful to the environment in a liquid state when spilled and harmful when burned for energy. The only way to stop fossil fuels negatively effecting the environment would be to stop using them, and what is stopping us from transitioning from "dirty" energy to clean energy is money. To stop using these dangerous substances, humans must find cheaper, alternative sources of clean energy to use on a daily basis so that we presrve our planet.