1
1
::::::::
I have come late to the climate change game, but the more I learn about the interlinking of issues the more interesting and ominous things look. Population is a case in point. Another is peak oil.
The concept behind the term "peak oil" is pretty simple. Oil is a finite resource and some day our collective tanks will begin running low. Eventually, we will run out of it.
Peak oil specifically refers to that moment when we are no longer able to increase crude oil production world wide. A lot of scientists think that has already happened, beginning in 1970.
Now the logic of that position would seem to be unassailable. That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of room to argue. Some argue that it will never happen. Some say we can push it off by exploring harder to get forms of fossil fuels such as Canada's oil sand deposits. Others argue that it is just a plot to get people to stop using fossil fuels as part of an overarching plot by leftists to foist their global warming agenda upon an unsuspecting American public.
Peak oil and climate change are indeed two issues that are closely linked. Why? Well, most scientists believe that the current rise in earth's average temperature is due less to cyclical changes and more to human-caused (anthropogenic) emissions of green house gases, most notably carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels (oil and coal). The longer we use fossil fuels, the more its impact on global warming.
This leaves us with two choices. We could take every ounce of fossil fuel out of the ground at the inevitable cost of a rise in global temperatures that will have lethal consequences for millions of people. Or, we could start winding down our reliance on fossil fuels and develop markets for alternative fuels and other societal needs that depend directly or indirectly on fossil fuels at a tremendous cost both in taxes and in increased individual energy costs.
Kinda sucks, don't it?
This article first appeared on http://www.PlanetRestart.org
