ital role that fossil fuels are currently taking.
             The United States alone is a major user of fossil fuels tapped from foreign sources. In a statement made by J.C. Watts, a U.S. House of Representatives rep, he affirms, "Here we are today...we have actually increased that [oil] demand to over 56 percent of our consumption [from foreign sources]." Reliance this strong puts the United States, as well as other nations, at risk of heavy embargoes, international blackmail and terrorist attacks. Looking back to the Clinton administration, the former president agreed with the Commerce Department's finding that the nation's growing reliance on fossil fuel imports threatened national security because of increased vulnerability to interruptions in oil supply (Watts 1). American politicians are eagerly seeking a source in United States territory that will decrease this sickly dependence. This includes drilling oil in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. That may temporarily solve the oil supply crisis, but will only add to pollution, destruction of animal habitat, and dependence.
             Fossil fuel production and usage causes numerous environmental and health risks that can no longer be overlooked. The burning of fossil fuels has been proven to emit large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases that trap infrared radiation from the sun within the earth's atmosphere (Kindel 10). Environmentalists use a term the "greenhouse effect" to explain the trapping of these gases in the atmosphere. Steve Kindel of USA Today agrees that the major problem with the greenhouse effect is that the gases trapped will soon heat the earth as much as 6 degrees F this century. Global warming of this magnitude, will lead to massive flooding, droughts and unpredictable changes in ocean currents among other problems (11). To put the magnitude of flooding into perspective, imagine one of the polar ice cap...