Daniel Moazzami

English 111

Professor Williams

November 19, 2020

Reflective Cover Letter

My writing changed to be more expressive and personal during this course. The revisions

on my essay don’t really encapsulate these changes, but the essay overall is a good

demonstration of how I became more personal with my writing. This personality has really

boosted my confidence in my writing. I felt like I can write about anything. I would like to give

credit to how this class was structured for this.

The essay I chose represents my best work because it is something that I am very

passionate about. As a person, you tend to care more about stuff you are passionate about. My

passion is making the world a better place. My essay’s topic is about transitioning from

nonrenewable energy to renewable energy. When I started writing this essay, I started with just

getting my rough ideas down on the outline. I didn’t want to keep the ideas short because I had a

clear general idea, so I went into depth a bit with it. This helped me with fleshing out my ideas in

the later stages of my writing process.

Peer Review helped me with the essay and how it was structured. Instructor Review

helped me find all the large issues that the Peer Reviewer wasn’t sure about. My overall use of

the writing processes of prewriting, drafting, and revising helped me strengthen my essay by
capturing all my main thoughts and chiseling them out, almost like carving out a marble

countertop from a slate of marble.

The strongest part of my essay is probably my general ideas. My revisions didn’t really

change this. I would like to revise my essay with further instruction on how to make stronger

arguments in papers like mine. This type of writing is new to me, and it would be beneficial to

know more about how to write it, because I really like this type of writing.

I honestly really enjoyed this class because it help relight the torch of my writing. It

brought me back into something that I loved to do, but drew away from because the teaching of

years before was not sufficient to keep me interested. I don’t think any single thing requires more

focus as this is a single class, and other classes probably teach about the other topics in depth. I

would recommend this class to anyone debating whether they should take. it
 For A Brighter Future

The US is at a crossroads for how we should approach energy production in the future.

Energy production through fossil fuel extraction has been the staple of how the US produces its

energy for much of its existence. It hasn’t been until the past 50 years or so that debates in the

legislative positions of our country have happened discussing whether this should change. There

have been two sides to this story. One side has been pushing for the transfer of our energy

production from nonrenewable fossil fuels to alternative renewable energy sources. The other

side has been saying that the transfer from nonrenewable to renewable would be too costly. They

have said that the technology doesn’t exist yet and the production of available technology is too

costly, in terms of money and materials.

I believe that the US should embark on a journey to transition from nonrenewable energy

to renewable energy. Though the side that is against this transition doesn’t believe so, this

transfer would be beneficial to all citizens of America if signed into legislation with proper

legislative considerations. “The bottom line: Renewables are now cheaper than the average cost

to operate coal and the average cost to build new natural gas.” (Marcacci) The number one

prospect of a transition to renewable energy would be lessen the pollution and destruction of our

environment, hence a common name of renewable energy being “Green Energy”. Renewable

energy sources cause little, if not no, pollution nor do they impact the health of the population

negatively.

The side against this transition often discusses the costs of the said transition. They are

not wrong when they say it will be expensive to install, but they are wrong to say that it isn’t
needed: “Cheap renewable energy, climate policies and the coronavirus are pushing fossil fuel

companies towards a process of "terminal decline" that could trigger a new financial crisis unless

regulators act”. (Green) They discuss how the technology to create these alternative forms of

energy aren’t feasible yet or take up too many resources, but our country is extraordinarily

capable of devoting our research capabilities to make these alternative forms of energy more cost

efficient. And we are actively doing that right now: “Over the last decade, wind energy prices

have fallen 70% and solar photovoltaics have fallen 89% on average” (Marcacci)

Another talking point that people against the transfer of renewable energy use is that

workers that are already working in nonrenewable energy sectors will lose their jobs. That is

completely true, but instead of using this as a scapegoat against renewable energy, we should

look at ways to account for this. Why don’t we start making it easier for these workers to learn

that new field of energy production. Also, due to the nearing collapse of the fossil fuel industry,

we should be finding ways to account for our non-renewable fuel source workers so they don’t

suffer in the future: “… Companies across the fossil fuels system are worth $18 trillion in listed

equity, a quarter of the value of global equity markets.” (Green) That would be disastrous for

workers. There will be so many new jobs to fill because of a transition to renewable energy: “As

many as 25 million jobs will be created in the U.S. by an aggressive climate plan.” (Griffith,

Calisch)

A point that should be brought up is the tax burden on the US population from an

initiative to push towards renewable energy in America. Renewable energy critics say that

American people shouldn’t have raised taxes. This shouldn’t be the case. We have evolved past

this notion that we should be individualist and to only worry about ourselves. That’s just not the

case with our society. We should contribute to our society in the form of taxes. Our infrastructure
is crumbling because of lower taxes and misappropriated budgeting. People shouldn’t have to

worry about paying for their suspension being blown out because of a pothole from all the years

of road degradation from no Department Of Transportation funding. The same applies to energy

production. In fact, it would be cheaper in the long run: “With an optimal regulatory

environment, low cost financing, huge industrial scale and steady technology improvements we

can save more than $2500 per year per household.” (Griffith, Calisch)

Moving into the realm of renewable energy being our number 1 source of energy, and

eventually our only source of energy, will be a turning point in our definition of America. The

benefits that renewable energy on a large scale will bring to the American people will be great.

The long term effects of this will make life cheaper for us, as well as providing jobs. You also

have the added enjoyment of having a clean environment. The transfer to renewable energy

production will usher in a new golden age in America. The pure grit and innovation that America

has been known for will be present once again.

Works Cited
Green, Matthew. “'Terminal Decline' of Fossil Industry Risks Crisis Unless Regulators

Act: Study.” ​Reuters​, Thomson Reuters, 4 June 2020,

www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-fossil/terminal-decline-of-fossil-industry

-risks-crisis-unless-regulators-act-study-idUSKBN23B1AL.

Griffith, Saul, and Sam Calisch. “No Place Like Home: Fighting Climate Changing (And

Saving Money) by Electrifying America's Households.” ​RewiringAmerica.org​,

Rewiring America, 21 Oct. 2020,

static1.squarespace.com/static/5e540e7fb9d1816038da0314/t/5f9125184a17493652d

b0ba9/1603347768714/No_Place_Like_Home_RA.pdf.

Marcacci, Silvio. “Renewable Energy Prices Hit Record Lows: How Can Utilities Benefit

From Unstoppable Solar And Wind?” ​Forbes​, Forbes Magazine, 20 Jan. 2020,

www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2020/01/21/renewable-energy-prices-hit-rec

ord-lows-how-can-utilities-benefit-from-unstoppable-solar-and-wind/?sh=652281602

c84.