Where should our greatest priority be – food or fuel? This is not ‘rocket science’! The fact is that there are vastly more people in the world needing food than fuel. Food is a universal constant and as long as there are people there will be a need for food. It is simply the result of delusional thinking, greed, or mass deception to believe prolonging the life of the internal (infernal) combustion engine by substituting ethanol for any portion of the demand for fossil fuels is sound economics!
Fuel
The world has a finite supply of fossil fuels. The most favorable projections and estimates of fossil fuel reserves still indicate that the growth in demand far outpaces the ability of the planet to meet that demand. Marion King Hubbert predicted that the US demand for oil would exceed domestic supplies between 1960 and 1970. The fact is that in 1972 the oil crisis in the US was a direct result of the shift in domestic supply sources to foreign producers. The same formulas used by Hubbert to correctly predict this shift indicate that the global oil reserve s would peak around the year 2000 and then begin a decline at a speed roughly equal to the previous rate of discovery. The Export Land Model indicates once oil production has peaked and demand continues to increase exports decline at a far faster rate than the decline in oil production alone. This has already occurred in the US, and the present reluctance of OPEC to increase production in spite of unprecedented increases in oil prices, indicates that it may have happened in OPEC nations in spite of their claims to the contrary. The simple truth of economics is that when demand outpaces supply the price of a commodity will increase! The continued use of fossil fuels which produce the exponential increases in oil prices, in conjunction with greenhouse gas emissions, should be indicative of a catastrophic outcome to even the simplest mind! By the way, speculation is only one component of the forces that drive up the price of the commodity in short supply – this is a ‘no-brainer’!
Food
The world has an essentially infinite demand for food. Be that as it may, whether you embrace these simple facts or not, the facts are that the population of our planet doubled between 1950 and 1990, and will double again within the next twenty years! A fundamental fact of life is that an organism cannot use more energy to produce the food it consumes than the energy produced by what it consumes, or it will weaken and die! For example, if a predator consistently burned three days worth of energy to capture and consume prey that produced one day’s energy, the food to energy ratio would be 1:3 when a 3:3 ratio is required and it would soon weaken and die. Fossil fuels have enabled food producers to expend substantially more energy in the production, and transportation of the food the world consumes than the energy produced by consumption of that food. Fossil fuels have allowed global food producers to increase their agricultural production sufficiently to exceed global demand up to now. However, shifting agricultural production from food to ethanol fuel supplies is a poorly thought out plan! If we view the entire human race as a single organism, and all the fossil fuel on earth as the energy it needs to produce the food it consumes, or a food to energy ration of 1:3 when a 3:3 ratio is required and the human race is going to soon weaken and die! Please note that these facts are not even considering the vast fertile coastal areas of agricultural productivity which would be inundated by diminishing global ice cover reductions we are currently experiencing at exponential rates of increase!
Summary
The US and other developed nations have procrastinated on utilizing huge oil and automotive profits for developing alternative energy sources for mush too long. These governments have allowed the prospect of great wealth to deter them from developing policies and incentives to encourage solutions to these imminent problems. There are few viable options available to prevent catastrophic global events:
An immediate and global shift to internal combustion alternatives.
Immediate and global fossil fuel conservation efforts.
An immediate program by all developed nations to assist underdeveloped nations to increase their food production without fossil fuel consumption!
I continue to pray that it is not too late to reverse the trends that are creating global crisis! However, as with many cases in the past, when 90% of all species ever living on this planet have become extinct, there is a ‘tipping point’, known but to God, when it will be too late for human intervention and the fate of our species will be in the hands of God!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Who's going to pay?
I just wanted to share a candid letter from a concerned American:
To our Congress,
This morning I am sitting here with tears in my eyes; because of the things that illegal aliens are getting away with (father and 2 sons killed in San Francisco is the latest I'm aware of).
You may be elected by different districts or states or parties; but you work for MY country and therefore, YOU are responsible for what goes on. I know that the majority of the country agrees with me and I believe it is time that you listen and start doing something quickly about the illegal alien situation that we have in our country. Legal Hispanics are also in agreement. They came here legally; but they too are being by-passed for all kinds of legal benefits.
Funniest thing: One set of our grandchildren have an unusual last name. One started kindergarten last fall. She is very shy. When the 'official in charge' talked to her, she wouldn't answer. So, she's placed in ESL. Hello! We're looking at a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty who just happens to be very shy!! Intellect in the schools, please!
Now, my first suggestion is that every one of hispanic heritage who cannot prove that they are here legally should be put on a plane and taken to the southern tip of Mexico. That will, at least, ensure that it will take awhile for them to work their way back to the U.S.
One of your concerns is, of course, 'What about those darling children that they gave birth to while here in the U.S.?' Very easy answer. Yes, they are citizens of the U.S. But, their parents can take them back to Mexico with them, or they can leave them in the U.S. with responsible, legal residents. Take your pick, parents! You were not invited to come here to have your children.
We are no longer the richest country in the world that can take care of everyone. We are quickly becoming very poor. We are in a recession. Yes, I know you have all these excuses why it's not officially a recession!
If the rulers of our country are not following the rules, how can God bless this country? I believe the Bible states it best: 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I trust that you have read this; and, therefore, thank you,
Molalla, Oregon Resident
To our Congress,
This morning I am sitting here with tears in my eyes; because of the things that illegal aliens are getting away with (father and 2 sons killed in San Francisco is the latest I'm aware of).
You may be elected by different districts or states or parties; but you work for MY country and therefore, YOU are responsible for what goes on. I know that the majority of the country agrees with me and I believe it is time that you listen and start doing something quickly about the illegal alien situation that we have in our country. Legal Hispanics are also in agreement. They came here legally; but they too are being by-passed for all kinds of legal benefits.
Funniest thing: One set of our grandchildren have an unusual last name. One started kindergarten last fall. She is very shy. When the 'official in charge' talked to her, she wouldn't answer. So, she's placed in ESL. Hello! We're looking at a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty who just happens to be very shy!! Intellect in the schools, please!
Now, my first suggestion is that every one of hispanic heritage who cannot prove that they are here legally should be put on a plane and taken to the southern tip of Mexico. That will, at least, ensure that it will take awhile for them to work their way back to the U.S.
One of your concerns is, of course, 'What about those darling children that they gave birth to while here in the U.S.?' Very easy answer. Yes, they are citizens of the U.S. But, their parents can take them back to Mexico with them, or they can leave them in the U.S. with responsible, legal residents. Take your pick, parents! You were not invited to come here to have your children.
We are no longer the richest country in the world that can take care of everyone. We are quickly becoming very poor. We are in a recession. Yes, I know you have all these excuses why it's not officially a recession!
If the rulers of our country are not following the rules, how can God bless this country? I believe the Bible states it best: 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I trust that you have read this; and, therefore, thank you,
Molalla, Oregon Resident
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