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Top 10 Myths about Sustainability
Pubblicato il 10/03/2009 alle 13:00
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You might be interested in visiting www.wiserearth.org, the online community founded by Paul Hawken and based on insights of his most recent book 'Blessed Unrest'
It's great to see so many common myths about sustainability debunked in one place. I'll be referring curious friends to this page. I do have one quibble, which is that the concept of sustainability goes back at least to the 1972 Limits to Growth Paper from the Club of Rome, and many would say that it goes back much further to Malthus.
Here is the most important issue regarding sustainability and survivability. Global crude oil production peaked in 2008. Alternatives will not even begin to fill the gap. There is no plan nor capital for a so-called electric economy. And most alternatives yield electric power, but we need liquid fuels for tractors/combines, 18 wheel trucks, trains, ships, and mining equipment. The independent scientists of the Energy Watch Group conclude in a 2007 report titled: “Peak Oil Could Trigger Meltdown of Society:” "By 2020, and even more by 2030, global oil supply will be dramatically lower. This will create a supply gap which can hardly be closed by growing contributions from other fossil, nuclear or alternative energy sources in this time frame." With increasing costs for gasoline and diesel, along with declining taxes and declining gasoline tax revenues, states and local governments will eventually have to cut staff and curtail highway maintenance. Eventually, gasoline stations will close, and state and local highway workers won’t be able to get to work. We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel and gasoline powered trucks for bridge maintenance, culvert cleaning to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, and roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, large transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables from great distances. With the highways out, there will be no food coming from far away, and without the power grid virtually nothing modern works, including home heating, pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, water supply, waste water treatment, and automated building systems. Documented here: http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html http://survivingpeakoil.blogspot.com/
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