"Think globally, act locally!" It's wonderful if it does not kill.

The treasured phrase has its 1,300-word Wikipedia page, which defines it as a call to "consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communities and cities." It's on bumper stickers and apparel.

Think globally + act locally = good person. Our every action has an equal and opposite reaction that might harm people we don't see and hear.

Everyone should think globally and act locally. That's why we ask our state, federal and local governments to think more clearly when attacking natural gas domestically.

Recent Colorado actions against natural gas include:

— Crested Butte voted in July to ban natural gas for future buildings.

— Lafayette, with thousands of planned new homes, banned natural gas in new construction.

— Golden laid the groundwork for an ordinance banning natural gas in new buildings, which will self-generate electrons.

— Erie and Northglenn have recently adopted building codes to obstruct gas.

— Eight of nine Boulder City Commissioners favor banning natural gas in new buildings and homes, and the ninth ponders joining them.

— Denver and Louisville have requirements that demand all-electric commercial construction.

— The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission wants commercial buildings fully electric, without gas, by target dates.

We've reached a tipping point. It's like Wisconsin demonizing cheese. Colorado ranks seventh among all states for natural gas reserves, in a country with the world's most natural gas. Be assured, abandoning and hording gas burdens the globe.

Oppose natural gas + embrace electric = good person. Maybe not.

First, it hurts nearby humanity mostly unseen by Colorado's upscale cities and resort towns. The American Petroleum Institute reports Colorado's fossil fuel production provides about 340,000 jobs. Anti-gas actions badly hurt people in Colorado who depend on gas production to pay bills, feed children and fund schools.

Behind the war on gas is "Net Zero 2050," a movement taking the country by storm. The United Nations estimates costs of Net Zero at tens of trillions. The United States' GDP is $25 trillion. In second, China has a GDP of $18 trillion. At tens of trillions, Net Zero — if achievable — could crash the global economy.

The global market distributes gas. As the U.S. forbids local demand, ratcheting down production, we force more people in underdeveloped countries to cook and heat with garbage, wood and dung. Those fumes, multiplied by hundreds of millions of households, are far worse than anything emitted by gas.

In Africa, Asia, the Middle East — even next door in Mexico — masses cook and heat with garbage, wood and dung. The World Health Organization reports about 3.2 million die each year from indoor pollution caused by primitive cooking and heating fuels.

Those suffering increase as the United States imposes costs and reduces access to natural gas and liquid natural gas — a power source easily transported to impoverished homes in take-home tanks.

As our politicians capitulate to Net Zero, they impose harm on the rest of the world. It's not just by curtailing domestic production.

The U.S. and 18 other countries of privilege pledged during the 2021 Climate Conference to think locally and withhold loans from developing nations if they plan to build hydrocarbon infrastructure for clean fuels, synthetic fertilizers and other hydrocarbon-based resources their populations need to survive.

The narrow focus on Net Zero could kill additional millions globally each year. Before they die, people who cook and heat with unclean fuels cough through much of their lives. We've met them and witnessed their suffering.

Gas and other unfashionable fuels contribute to 80%-plus of the global energy supply. They are essential to 50% of the world's food production, the manufacture of plastics, building materials, apparel and just about everything else. With this global view, to disparage gas looks mean.

Poverty has plummeted from 90% of the world's population in the 1800s to 10%. We can directly credit natural gas and other hydrocarbon fuels for most of this humanitarian progress.

The United Nations, the U.S. and other developed nations could end world poverty by 2050 but not while obstructing gas. We will need wind, solar, geothermal and fossil fuels — all the above — along with constant advancements to improve emissions.

Americans are smarter than this. We can put humanity first by ending poverty at its root cause — energy scarcity — by 2050. Think globally, study the facts and examine them clearly. Then act locally for all of humankind.

The Gazette Editorial Board

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

Photo credit: Khamkéo Vilaysing at Unsplash