Re: Church Of Peak Oil, Peter Foster
From time to time I both agree and disagree fairly strongly with Peter Foster. With regard to his peak oil column, it is the former.
Many years ago, I thought oil reserves were a geological fact. Then I figured out they are an economic fact. Before someone tells you what their reserves are you have to tell them what price of oil you are assuming. When or if oil becomes sufficiently expensive, the alternatives will become more economic. We will demand less oil. As long as it is market priced we simply can't run out.
Addressing Mr. Foster's broader ongoing thesis, that human psychology seems to have a need for doom and gloom, and to do penance for our sins, I invite all of us who look around. If you are as old as I am you remember, with the evidence of your senses, that things are better now than they used to be. Lakes and rivers are cleaner, the air is cleaner, people live longer and better.
In the 1970s a big fear was advancing glaciers. Maybe it is warmer now and maybe it is not. What I do know is that 15,000 years ago there was a mile of ice where we are. It's better now.
James Musgrove, Toronto.