Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018 | 2 a.m.
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The failure to take action that could reverse the dangerous changes in climate is directly linked to the inability to realize that conservation, more than anything else, is the key to reducing oil consumption and carbon dioxide.
There are hundreds of generously funded groups looking for “new sources of clean energy” that can be developed in 15 years. Yet none of these organizations lists conservation in their objectives. They seem to believe the world will stand still for 15 years, at which time they will pop out of the labs with clean energy solutions and save the planet.
However, if no action is taken, growth over the past 20 years shows that in 15 years, there will be an additional 1.5 billion people on Earth, the world oil consumption will have increased from 35 billion to about 42 billion barrels per year, 50 percent of existing oil reserves will have been burned and the carbon dioxide concentration will be around 450 ppm.
Oil-producing countries will cut back their exports to retain a portion of their reserves and the gas lines of the 1970s will return, only worse. When access to oil goes away next time, it will never return.
Conservation of natural resources must begin now or the disruptions of France and Belgium will be magnified around the world, and they will be coming with pitchforks.
