Whatever drawbacks there were to burning fossil fuels, the problem was going to go away. It's not like we have millenia of fossil fuels to burn.
We absolutely need to be looking for alternatives. And, maybe we should be slowing down our use of petroleum until we figure out the alternatives. But, that's not how humans work. We create alternatives when we need the alternatives, and not before.
This message has been edited 1 time(s).