Last week on vacation, the resort where we stayed had a very hot, hot tub.

Setting foot in the tub my first inclination was to jump out. It felt much hotter than my hot tub at home set at 102 degrees.

Surprisingly, my body adapted to the hot temperature. The tub temperature hadn’t changed but it felt cooler to me. I limited my exposure time.

The hot tub experience reminded me of the urban legend about how to boil a frog. If a frog is dropped into a small pot of boiling water, it jumps out. However, if the frog is put in tepid comfortable water which is brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and be cooked to death. The story is a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to threats arising gradually rather than suddenly.

Honesty and integrity are important. Always tell the truth. Small “white lies” can lead us down a path to dishonesty. Luke 16:10 says, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

We had a relative who would lie about meaningless little things. The result was I never knew when she was telling the truth and could never trust her.

To the frog a small temperature increase was unperceptive. Small things matter.

The person who dies of lung cancer didn’t start with three packs of cigarettes a day. They started with one cigarette. The alcoholic or drug addict didn’t start with a binge. They started with one drink or one pill. The criminal who commits armed robbery and murder started with petty theft.

We can lose our democracy if we allow small freedoms to be taken away. If something dramatic happens like the attack on 9-11, we recognize the threat and act.

During the pandemic we saw simple freedoms like the ability to worship taken away. Pennsylvania people couldn’t buy liquor. The state liquor stores were deemed unessential. Other businesses were forced to close.

The West Virginia governor’s state of emergency and associated powers didn’t end until Jan. 1, 2023. The West Virginia Legislature acted, passing Senate Bill 128 restricting the powers of future governors to maintain emergency powers without legislative approval.

Do we recognize the seemingly insignificant things impacting us?

Before Christmas Lynnda and I toured CRDC’s mixed plastic recycling facility in York, PAennsylvania They convert 1-2 tons per hour of mixed unwashed plastic waste into a valuable construction product. We connected CRDC with another company who is able to increase the amount of plastic waste they can remove from the environment. We left York for a meeting in Marietta the next day and spent the night in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The morning was sunny and cold with temperatures in the low 20s.

As we crossed the Allegheny Front on the Pennsylvania Turnpike headed toward Pittsburgh, I noticed a solar farm with all of the panels covered with snow. It wasn’t producing electricity. The wind farm at the top of the mountain wasn’t doing any better. Only one of the many windmills was barely turning. There was very little wind.

I shared my concern with Lynnda. At 60 degrees I can put on a jacket. At 20 degrees we need heat to survive. In weather extremes we especially need dependable energy, renewables couldn’t deliver.

This week we saw temperatures in the single digits. If the power goes off, our heat pump won’t work.

I don’t work for the energy industry. Especially now I’m reminded how important fossil fuels are and thankful we have abundant coal, natural gas, oil and workers who produce them. We have a propane grill to cook on and a wood fireplace with lots of trees, if our electricity is down. Both fossil fuel solutions. At least we can survive.

A great danger to our safety is our own government especially the Environmental Protection Agency constantly adding regulations forcing coal power plants to shut down before the end of their useful life.

New proposed EPA regulations will restrict the ability of natural gas plants to operate.

Like boiling a frog they are slowly taking away our ability to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer without a viable replacement. We heard about the danger directly from a PJM electric grid executive at October’s West Virginia Governor’s Energy Conference. He can’t deliver electricity if it isn’t available.

We took a day trip to Key West and rented a “Conch Car,” an electric vehicle bigger than a golf cart, to get around the island. The Conch was fun to drive. It was quiet and reduces air pollution on a small island. They are easily recharged overnight. We need dependable baseload power for EVs.

Who will protect our children and grandchildren if we don’t? We must ask tough questions and demand economic, dependable 24-7-365 energy.

With the current energy plan and new EPA air regulations, HOW are we going to have dependable heat and power?

If someone doesn’t like fossil fuels they are free to make that decision. They shouldn’t use them. We can all see how that works. Political rhetoric, theory, bullying and wishful thinking don’t keep us warm.

Will it take a winter storm freezing thousands to death in the dark to get our attention. Hopefully, it won’t be this winter. Baseload power like natural gas and coal can’t be replaced by intermittent sources.

Small, seemingly insignificant things do matter. We are smarter than a frog, aren’t we? There are other ways to lower emissions. One of the best ways is manufacturing more of the products we use here using our energy under common sense environmental laws.

Great accomplishments start small.

The half-marathon I ran a year after my quad rupture injury, started by getting out of a wheelchair and walking to the front of our church to read.

All things are possible.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.