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Resources Wasted
an article by our site
(Sources for all charts above: public domain)
Modern civilization is based on nonrenewable resources like oil and gas—which makes the time that our civilization can exist finite. The modern world, with its nearly 200 states, its territorial seas, its mega-corporations and its worldwide travel, is becoming too full, dangerously so. There is no frontier to develop (like there was a few centuries back) or sudden flood of new resources to enrich us—where would they come from? Yet our population growth continues, and our environmental demands come faster and heavier. We saw a twenty-fold rise in production and consumption in the last century, and in this century it’s all getting worse.
The modern world, with its nearly 200 countries, is becoming too full, dangerously so
Present trends and policies cannot continue or they will surely destroy the resource base on which we all depend. We are losing the battle against poverty, which continues to give hundreds of millions of people an existence allowing no human dignity. Poverty is the main cause, and effect, of environmental degradation in many developing countries. Environmental degradation and the unequal distribution of wealth and power are in reality different aspects of the same group of dilemmas.
Oil production is expected to fall off after 2025 as oil supplies run out. What will be the replacement for it in our vehicles? Ethanol? Hydrogen? Solar? Who knows?
Oil production is expected to fall off after 2025 as oil supplies run out. What will replace it?
Land is a fundamental resource. As world population increases, the average amount of land available to each person decreases. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were nine hectares of land per person. By 2000, there is only two hectares of land per person. Getting kind of crowded here, folks!
Climate change and global warming concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the global financial crisis better than many other sectors. According to a 2011 projection by the International Energy Agency, solar power generators may produce most of the world’s electricity within 50 years, dramatically reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases that harm the environment. And wind power is growing at the rate of 30% annually.
(Source: Renewable energy )
Global warming
And here are several solar power plants in the Mojave Desert which supply power to the electricity grid. These plants are the largest solar power installation in the world, in 2013. (Source: Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert)