Heartland Institute: The most consequential issues in the climate change debate are “whether the warming since 1950 has been dominated by human causes, how much the planet will warm in the 21st century, whether warming is ‘dangerous,’ whether we can afford to radically reduce CO2 emissions, and whether reduction will improve the climate” (Curry, 2015). Fossil fuels have benefited humanity by making possible the prosperity that occurred since the first Industrial Revolution, which made possible investments in goods and services that are essential to protecting human health and prolonging human life. Fossil fuels powered the technologies that reduced the environmental impact of a growing human population, saving space for wildlife.