The oil exhaustion was a marketing campaign, that the media ran away with (This is a theme. The media has never been good.). If we keep using oil, we will eventually have to start manufacturing it, and the price will likely be higher. Current technology would cost somewhere between 2 and 5 times as much, but research is ongoing, and that's likely to improve.
Same thing happened with the ice age panic in the 70s. A kernel of truth (the volume of ice probably was increasing, probably driven by increased rainfall) was misinterpreted and blow out of all context by the media.
Acid rain really was stopped by changes in sulfur emissions regulations, but the original danger was overestimated (Thanks media), and most of the damage that could happen did. As always, government reacted too much, too late.
CFCs were the most genuine environmental problem of the century. I'm glad they're banned (except for medical use), and I'm happy to see newer, safer propellants coming to market now.
The ice caps probably are reducing in mass, and the media has run all over the place with this information. The satellite spectra data is extremely compelling, the Earth is heating up, and surely if it continues long enough, the ice will melt, the ocean will warm, sea levels will go up, and seawalls and dams will have to be constructed for hundreds of coastal cities at a cost of many billions of dollars. You should scale your worry accordingly.
Learning more about problems and mitigating them has saved humanity from literally every problem we've faced in the past. The fact that so many people in the media insist that this is the first time ever that we cannot possibly work smarter, and literally must work harder and suffer more to resolve our issues is exceedingly disappointing.
The oil exhaustion was a marketing campaign, that the media ran away with (This is a theme. The media has never been good.). If we keep using oil, we will eventually have to start manufacturing it, and the price will likely be higher. Current technology would cost somewhere between 2 and 5 times as much, but research is ongoing, and that's likely to improve.
Same thing happened with the ice age panic in the 70s. A kernel of truth (the volume of ice probably was increasing, probably driven by increased rainfall) was misinterpreted and blow out of all context by the media.
Acid rain really was stopped by changes in sulfur emissions regulations, but the original danger was overestimated (Thanks media), and most of the damage that could happen did. As always, government reacted too much, too late.
CFCs were the most genuine environmental problem of the century. I'm glad they're banned (except for medical use), and I'm happy to see newer, safer propellants coming to market now.
The ice caps probably are reducing in mass, and the media has run all over the place with this information. The satellite spectra data is extremely compelling, the Earth is heating up, and surely if it continues long enough, the ice will melt, the ocean will warm, sea levels will go up, and seawalls and dams will have to be constructed for hundreds of coastal cities at a cost of many billions of dollars. You should scale your worry accordingly.
Learning more about problems and mitigating them has saved humanity from literally every problem we've faced in the past. The fact that so many people in the media insist that this is the first time ever that we cannot possibly work smarter, and literally must work harder and suffer more to resolve our issues is exceedingly disappointing.