Will Starve for Oil

THE OTHER OIL SHOCK
Asymptotic Short Sightedness

 I love "asymptotic," the word. Maybe most people say "through the roof" or "scary growth" or "to the moon!" (Thank you Ralph Cramdon.) Here are some asymptotic graphics:


See how those lines shoot up, faster and faster as time goes by? That's asymptotic, baby. Any fool can see that eventually they go almost straight up, right past disaster into the catastrophere.

 These are from a NYTimes online article about another pending disaster resulting from short term thinking: "Hydrocarbons bad. Biofuels good." Never mind the inevitable impact on the cost of food. Never mind that irreplaceable forests will be destroyed to plant more palm oil trees. Never mind that more people will starve and the net effect on the environment will be negative. Never mind thinking a little ahead of the nose on your face. (I guess I'm angry. Dang.)

 You faithful readers of the Duffster's blog will recall that I've pounded this theme here and here along the way. There are much smarter ways to wean us from icky black stuff from the ground. Throw our vast combined intellect and money at the task of tapping the unlimited clean energy of the sun (thermal and photovoltaic) and the earth (geothermal, wave energy, wind). Then run everything on the electricity that can generate. We have to do it like all life depended on it. It does.

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