[TheForge] OT--Gas prices, gas shortages, price gouging?

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

We basically agree on this Andy;
We do still have plenty of fossil fuels in the US..primarily natural gas 
in shales that newer drilling technology has made accessable. As well as 
enormous amounts of methane hydrate entirely unexploited.
We need to weigh the amount of recoverable oil offshore in each area VS 
the long term consequences of it's extraction there.   pf

Andrew Vida wrote:
> 
> 
> Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer wrote:
> 
>> I have a very low opinion of offshore drilling......pf
> 
>     From an environmental POV it is difficult to argue with you.  I 
> seriously doubt that environments that were vibrant for millions of 
> years and which suddenly die out just as drilling operations get started 
> is a coincidence.  But we have painted ourselves into a pretty serious 
> corner in terms of how we live and what is required to go on, even for 
> the short term.  If we stopped now, billions (and I mean Billions) of 
> people will die within no more than a year's time.  We no longer know 
> how to live without some very serious augmentation.  We have taken the 
> planet well beyond its non-augmented carrying capacities in terms of, 
> e.g., food production.  Oil underpins our agriculture as a central 
> pillar of its foundation.  Remove it and bye bye fertilizers, and 
> therefore bye bye food and life shortly after we finish eating each 
> other and everything else remotely edible.  We probably would not become 
> extinct, but the culling would be tremendous.
> 
>     So this sort of begs the question of how do we avoid such an 
> inevitability?
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
> 
> 
>