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Fossil fuels are the single greatest cause of everything that separates how we live today from how people lived at the beginning of the 19th century up to and i
by jackfoxy 6y ago
Fossil fuels are the single greatest cause of everything that separates how we live today from how people lived at the beginning of the 19th century up to and including the huge surge in sustained human population.
Look to the Haber-Bosch process for just one example of this sustainability.
There’s no free lunch. It came with side effects.
- kickout 6y agoYep. Haber-Bosch unleashed synthetic nitrogen used essentially in all of agriculture (worldwide). Certainly made it possible to feed the hug surge of people.
- sandworm101 6y ago>> Certainly made it possible to feed the hug surge of people. Or... Haber-Bosch made it possible to have that huge surge in people?
- jackfoxy 6y agoThe world was already facing a fertilizer shortage which would have resulted in famine. That was the impetus for developing Haber-Bosh. The fact that petroleum is plentiful and cheap resulted (eventually, and in conjunction with other factors) cheap, plentiful, reliable food production no one at the time dreamed of.
- ekianjo 6y ago> There’s no free lunch. It came with side effects. Yes, and it's largely positive since we have a much larger population that can actually survive thanks to the benefits across the board that fossil fuels have brought (mobility, agriculture, commerce, etc...). To reduce their negative side effects the first thing would be to get away from coal.
- paulryanrogers 6y agoFor now. If it's not sustainable for more than a few centuries then our offspring are in for a rude awakening.
- ekianjo 6y ago> For now. If it's not sustainable for more than a few centuries then our offspring are in for a rude awakening. Typically you don't make plans for the future by assuming nothing ever improves.