Resource Depletion

[Peak_Oil]

This is something that's been rattling around in my head for a while, and I'm just going to dump it here for comments. We'll see if it is of any interest to you guys.

OK, we're in the midst of peak oil at the moment. A major question is the time scale and the nature of the decline. Will it drop off quickly and faceplant our economy, or will it just grind itself to pieces over 50 years? Who knows? In either case, our economy is going to decline and we'll have to use the resources at our disposal to support ourselves.

We went from the stone age to the bronze age to steel to industrial. When we lose industrial, which should be in my lifetime, what will we revert to? I think this is a major question that should be considered.

We'll have a nice long period of time where we can scavenge a huge amount of resources. We'll be able to beat swords into plowshares for years and years. There are solar smelting technologies available that use parabolic mirrors to heat metal to softness and then pound it into whatever we need, like pots and pans and knives and stuff like that. Sooner or later, though, we'll pass the scavenging phase. Hopefully that will be long after I'm dead.

Our children, though, will survive this time period and will not be able to use scavenging to make a life for themselves. They'll have to use the remaining nautral resources to support themselves. Will they have a bronze age in their futures? I don't think so.

For example, ancient peoples harvested copper from mines that were 30-50% (.3-.5) copper. We currently mine copper ore that is .8% (.008). What a difference! How will they mine copper in that environment? They won't have fossil fuelled machinery to use in that situation. I doubt they'll be able to harvest copper at all.

How do we go about setting things up for our grandchildren so they're not just eating grass seeds from the front lawns of today's suburbia? What should we do to prepare for this enormous change?

I'm totally at a loss at this point. I have no idea how we're going to get from where we are to where our grandchildren are going to be. I should be OK, because my family is planning for this a little, and we're buying a small farm in an area that has abundant natural resources, and we should be able to be self-supporting in five years or so.

What does everyone else do? How do we make an ordered transition in the US to step down our economic growth/destruction of resources?

[aquart]

1. Human beings can't eat grass.

Our stomachs aren't set up for it.

[el_gato]

2. go back to being a part of nature

instead of being apart from it

deer, bear, birds, fish, all do fine without all these things

I see nothing wrong with living in concert with nature

The native people of this continent were doing fine before 1492.

Of course this is after a huge depopulation wether it be gradual or cataclysmic.

[Fovea]

3. Look at the beginning of the first star wars film

as a cartoon version of what we have to be to make it to the 22nd century.

There has to be an extensive use of solar, wind, and other renewable energy. We have to become significantly better at energy and resource conservation.

We have to be as serious about this as the Chinese were about population control.

The future is to the energy efficient. We will be using earth contact housing, passive solar heating, highly efficient private vehicles and the world will adapt. But until we do, increasing numbers will suffer.

Remember what the Pentagon said about climate change causing political instability. You have to survive the next 50 years. I won't live that long.

But if we do it right, the nightscape may not be as brightly lit, but we will start putting humanity on a survivable footprint. Otherwise, we will all have to pray that we can somehow make the future of science fiction space colonies real or we all will surely die.

We will soon be living on a more challenging earth, like the citizens of Tatuine, we better get our 'vaperators in good working condition.