OT two+ buck a gallon gas AAARRRGGGGHHH

[Richard Gaskin]

Geoff Canyon wrote:

> Anyone who's overly concerned should check out "The Skeptical 
> Environmentalist," which surveys the environmental situation and points 
> out that we're often not as bad off as we think we are:
> 
> <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0521010683>

Overly, or appropriately?  That's the question, and it cannot be 
answered by any single book. For very point there is a counterpoint, and 
for every million people who could benefit from cheap, plentiful energy 
there's someone with more power than them who benefits from keeping 
energy scarce and expensive.

I was skeptical about peak oil, so I started reading everything I could 
find on it last year.  I found that estimates vary broadly, with some 
doom-and-gloomers saying we already passed it in 1999, and one lone 
researcher (funded by the oil industry) who claimed it was 50 years out. 
  The overwhelming majority of researchers suggest 10 to 30 years, with 
most of those betting on 20.

Oil is a finite commodity, so it's not a question of when peak oil will 
occur, but when.

One good thing about peak oil: some researchers have suggested that we 
won't hit the point of irreversible damage from global warming because 
there isn't enough oil left to do that. :)

Read what you can find, checked the industrial affiliations of 
researchers, remain skeptical of everyone, draw your own conclusions.
When one of them says trees cause cancer, or the air at Ground Zero is 
safe to breathe, or oil is infinite, double-check the facts.

<http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1322>

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com