Nuclear Power Plant

Plateau oil

Plateau oil, it’s the theory that conventional oil production is approaching its practical limit and will level off once it reaches that point. On the contrary, ‘peak’ oil is a similar theory that predicts that once oil production hits its peak, it will decline rapidly.

The issue with crude is not one so much of ‘running out’ but not having enough to keep our economy growing. The ramifications of not enough oil can be compared to the effects of dehydration for the human body. The human body is 70% water. Meaning a 200 pound man holds 140 pounds of water. The man doesn’t need to lose all his water weight to collapse from dehydration, a loss as little as 10-15 pounds of water may be enough to kill him. In a similar manner, an oil based economy, like the United States, doesn’t need to deplete its entire reserve of oil before it starts to collapse. A shortfall of even 10% would be enough to shatter the economy due to skyrocketing oil costs. In future decades, this problem will only be aggravated by a growing population.

In the 1970’s a 5% drop in production caused prices to triple in the 1970’s. Imagine what would happen if there were a 25% or even a 50% drop in production following an oil ‘peak’.

As an individual, you may wonder how bad it could really be. Maybe you will just start driving less, or start taking public transportation. But chances are, public transportation will become to costly for municipalities to provide. The effects of an oil shortage go far beyond your daily commute. The cost of nearly everything will rise as most manufacturing is done in some form of oil-burning factory. Think about it, in the United States, most of our food comes from massive farms and factories located in Middle America, where land prices allow companies to acquire such large parcels of land. This means much of the food reaching either coast will travel over 1,000 miles to reach its destination, usually, by means of a diesel-guzzling semi-trailer.

Modern medicine, water distribution, defense projects, and agriculture all require oil or petroleum derived chemicals to keep the industry moving. Plastics, computers and other high tech devices all need mass quantities of oil to be produced. Even the internet accounts for a whopping 10% of electricity demand in the U.S., according to a 2007 UClue study.

In fact, even alternative energy systems, such as solar panels and wind turbines, use petroleum and petroleum derived chemicals during manufacturing. In fact, all electrical devices use silver, copper, aluminum and platinum which is all discovered, extracted, and fashioned using oil or natural gas powered machinery.

The entire global financial system is dependent on an ever-increasing supply of oil. Beyond the creature comforts oil provides, this is arguably the key issue behind the ‘peak’ or ‘plateau’ oil theory. The world’s oil supply is finite and thus the foundation our global financial system lays on is unsustainable.

Save Our Water

Every day, thousands of people die from lack of access to clean water. According to Water.org fact sheets, only 62% of the world’s population has access to improved sanitation — defined as a sanitation facility that ensures hygienic separation of human excreta from human contact. The majority of illness in the world is caused by fecal matter. In addition, also according to Water.org fact sheets, every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease and children in poor environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at any time.

Of all the water on earth, 97.5% is salt water, and of the remaining 2.5% fresh water, about 70% is frozen in the polar icecaps. The remaining 30% is moisture in the soil or lies in underground aquifers. Only about 0.0007% of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for human use.

Without water, life would not exist, yet nearly one billion people lack access to clean water. More than twice that amount don’t have access to toilets.

Clean water is something we take for granted in most developed nations. But just 100 years ago, cities like New York and Paris were centers of infectious disease. In the end, it was sweeping reforms in water and sanitation that enabled human and economic development to leap forward. In fact, a poll by the British Medical Journal in 2007 found that clean water and sanitation were the most important medical advances since 1840.

According to a fact sheet from Water.org, a not for profit clean water advocacy group, the health and economic impacts of today’s global water crisis are staggering.

1. More than 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease; 84 percent are children. Nearly all deaths, 98 percent, occur in the developing world.
2. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.
3. Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection.
4. Millions of women and children spend several hours each day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
5. 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.

Industrialized nations now have the know how to bring people clean water and improved sanitation. But global leaders are still sitting on their hands waiting for a magic cure to the clean water problem. Simple and economical solutions are available, yet millions will die this year from lack of access to clean water and lack of any water at all. This has to change.

Climate Change

How significant is global warming? Historically speaking, it means relatively little, as the Earth has experienced extreme fluctuations in temperature – from long periods of warmth to ice ages. However, I’d like to lay out some of the realities by examining some of the persistent myths surrounding global warming.

Myth 1: We don’t really know if the climate is changing or, if it is, why.

Myth Debunked: There is an overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that the earth is warming, that this warming trend will worse, and that post-industrial human activity is to blame. In fact, when President Bush, who was among those who doubted the science, asked the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a special review, their well-balanced staff that contained more than just a few skeptics came back with the same conclusion: the planet is getting warmer and we are at blame. How significant is global warming? Just ask the people of Alaska, where roads are crumbling and homes sagging as the permafrost begins to melt. While the Earth’s temperature has always fluctuated, those changed generally occurred over several centuries or millenia. Today, these changed are happening within decades. In fact, scientists predict that over the next century average global temperature will rise two to ten degrees Fahrenheit.

Myth 2: Even if the Earth is warming, it may be more beneficial than dangerous.

Myth Debunked: Sure, a warming Earth may contribute to more fertile grounds, some previously covered by frost or long winters, but this effect will inevitably be reversed in other areas of the world. In the long term, any benefits are eventually outweighed. We will face increased flooding and increased drought. Extended heat waves, more powerful storms, and other extreme weather events will become more common. Rising sea level and storm surges will threaten communities along any coastline and taint water aquifers and reservoirs.

Myth 3: There is so much uncertainty, about scientific challenges and economic implications, that it would simply be better to wait for better information before we decide how to respond.

Myth Debunked: Now is not the time to wait. Even the current level of greenhouse gases is enough to leave the Earth feeling warming effects for decades to come. Right now, there is about 40 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The concentration of carbon dioxide is projected to reach twice the pre-industrial levels by the middle of this century.This doubling of carbon dioxide emissions is the scenario most scientists have relied on in projecting the likely impacts of global warming.

I’m not going to sit here and say that humans are in imminent danger of being wiped off the face of the planet, like the dinosaurs, but I think it does come down to a similar factor: the dinosaurs were wiped out because they couldn’t adjust to new realities. Unless humans learn to do a better job of adjusting to these new realities, we will also pay a heavy price.