Reply #38: This boy cried wolf in the 1970s-Opec was supposedly going to choke off our oil; we were

[terisan]

told to say goodbye to ever again seeing gasoline we could afford. Future shock was all the rage.University held great conferences on this sea change in our world. Alternative energy research exploded in the US...............and then shortly after Jimmy Carter was out of office...... Ronald Reagan took the solar panels off the roof of the White House .......gas prices started plummeting........alternative energy research money dried up......in was once again morning----a cloudy morning---in America.

Yes its different this time.....more countries are competing for oil............yet more energy alternatives are being developed. Oil that is expensive to get to today will be less expensive to get to tomorrow (one reason oil companies hire engineeers). Many developing countries are actually taking the lead in energy alternatives----they are not locked in to past habits like we are.

I consider when the first oil well was drilled (in the 1800s) and consider the long history of the human race. Imagine all the people who lived long enough to breed and make more humans-------and they did it all without oil........consider China which reached an enormously-sized population Before they started becoming significant users of oil.

We have big looming problems---climate change is a huge uncertainty and potentially a vast killer. Isn't use of fossil fuel making that potential problem worse?

Worry about the end of the sun......now that would be a massive problem.