Time Is Running Out On Our Culture Of Consumerism

Our civilization now confronts its ultimate challenge. I refer to the disparity between declining supplies of essential resources and increasing demand for them.

Oil is not the sole concern; humanity is approaching a shortage of minerals indispensable to industry and the way of life it has engendered.

To cite a few estimates by geologists: indium, required for solar cells, numerous electrical appliances, and the bearings of high-speed motors, will become unavailable in four years; lead in eight years, silver nine, uranium 19. However, these estimates are generous, for two reasons: (1) they assume that the rate of consumption will not increase; (2) as resources become scarcer, they become more difficult and costly to extract.

Increases in the cost of resources will entail worldwide inflation, which will be exacerbated by the massive infusion of money created by governments endeavoring to forestall depression. Indeed, the first signs of renewed inflation are already evident.

Rising food prices result from the cost of oil, for two reasons: (1) items sold in supermarkets are transported an average of 1,300 miles; (2) petroleum is an essential ingredient in commercial fertilizers.

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