In revolutionary times no one could imagine life without whale oil for their lamps. By the 1800s no one could imagine heat without wood and coal to heat their home, to run steam locomotives, and steam ships, and the horse was a staple mode of travel. By the mid-1900s coal slowly left the home and steam driven ships and trains were replaced by coal and nuclear power plants, oil and propane heating in rural areas, and diesel/gas run vehicles. The human spirit is to create new techologies that make the old obsolete. When Ron Rosati (now a dean down at A&M-Kingsville) taught my ag engineering course at Illinois State, he commented in class that "No real advancements had been made on the combustion engine since its invention." Consider that hybrid locomotives are being used in the Northeast and electric subways and trains are used throughout many urban areas. It is only a matter of desire (and little time), before battery technology advances to allow cars to travel cross country without recharging. Note the following link
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/15/technology/disruptors_eestor.biz2/index.htm On Fri, October 26, 2007 5:39 pm, joseph gathman wrote: > I think all these big issues come together as follows: > > Environmental problems are caused by: 1) human > population growth, and 2) our growth-based economic > philosophy. > > The problems caused by these factors are problems of > exploitation (resource extraction above the long-term > sustainable level), and problems of environmental > degradation (pollution, habitat destruction, etc. > above the natural capacity for renewal) - so basically > we have input problems and output problems. Peak Oil > is probably the biggest input problem facing us now, > and Global Warming is probably the biggest output > problem (though there are many problems of both > kinds). All these problems occur because we have > pushed the limits of the planet so we could grow well > above carrying capacity (probably). > > The reason I think Peak Oil is so important is that it > is primarily the excess cheap energy supplied by oil > that has allowed the human population to get so huge. > When the oil decreases, what happens to the human > population? And what happens to ecological systems > when humans react to the change? > > For anybody who doesn't know this quote: "The > greatest shortcoming of the human race is our > inability to understand the exponential function." - > Albert Bartlett, U. Colorado Boulder Emeritus > Professor of Physics. > > Joe > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > Malcolm L. McCallum Assistant Professor of Biology Editor Herpetological Conservation and Biology http://www.herpconbio.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
