Nation must wean itself from fossil fuel dependence

”Serious shortages will occur even sooner, because of the economic laws of
supply and demand.”

We are living at an instant of time when fossil fuels, (oil, natural gas, coal) supply almost 90 percent of the world’s energy. It is difficult to imagine how humans could have ever lived without them.

One truth about the use of fossil fuels is that their use inevitably produces carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere. The additional warming which this produces will eventually have a number of serious consequences, such as drought and sea level rise. The only real question concerns the timing of these effects. Al Gore explores these issues in his movie ”An Inconvenient Truth.”

Yet, there is another inconvenient truth about fossil fuels. Their supply is limited, and we are using them so rapidly that the day when serious shortages occur is not far off. According to most geologists, we have used up about half of the Earth’s oil in our first 150 years of use. But, the remaining half will not last nearly as long, because our appetite for oil is now so great. At present rates of use, the best estimate is that our remaining supply would last about 50 years. And our appetite continues to grow.

The Morning Call (Pennsylvania)