We live in a finite world. That is not in dispute, but what is in dispute is the depth of this finite pool of resources.
Do we have enough to last us? How much is enough exactly? Do we already actually know everything that we will ever know?
Well it depends on how you look at it doesn’t it, but I highly doubt it.
I’ve always argued that the whole notion of “renewable resources” is largely a furphy, merely a marketing term coined to make you feel better about using what we have been told is a finite resource.
People who worry about “peak oil” know absolutely nothing about the make up of our earthly home, nor the magic that is free market economics – the most adaptive force this planet has seen since… well, us.
In a free market system, prices signal scarcity. So as a resource becomes more scarce, it becomes more expensive, which incentivizes people to use less of it and develop new alternatives, or to find new reserves of that resource that were previously unknown or unprofitable.
As we are seeing with the recent boom in coal seam gas exploration and fracking of natural gas reserves once thought unreachable or uneconomical, the idea that we have already found all of the reserves of known resources on our planet is just incredibly naive.
This doesnt even take into account the full extent of unknown reserves of known resources, let alone the unknown reserves of unknown resources – resources that we currently, due to our current knowledge and capabilities, have no use for or understanding of their potential future uses.
This vid from LearningLiberty clearly illustrates this whole concept for those unfamiliar with how free markets continually drive our civilisation forward, changing the lives of millions each step of the way. The old “everything that can be invented has been invented” idea just has no merit in free market economies.
Never listen to anyone to who says they care about the world, or the children of the future. 99% of the time they are lying and are just old fashioned rent-seekers, trying to con you with their glib marketing phrases like “renewable” energy.
Relax, enjoy your life, and stop worrying so much about things that will never happen predicted by people who have no idea of the amazingly adaptive power that resides within us all.
Dacka's Razor 