Peak Oil’s Threat to Public Health

SYNOPSIS: Excerpts from a presentation at the annual meetings of the American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, December 14, 2005

The world is near “Peak Oil,” the point where half of its recoverable oil has been consumed. Petroleum -and natural gas– provides fuel for transportation and machines, energy for heat and air conditioning; is used in pesticides and fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and medicines, and is integral to an extensive array of manufactured goods. Oil is the indispensable resource of industrial society.

Absent alternatives to oil our nation’s public health system will face threats many thought were eliminated once and for all one hundred years ago when the profession organized itself around germ theory and gained the upper hand in controlling infectious diseases.
EV World