Should We Continue to Drill Oil?

[Ray Trace]

Everything is a limited resource. It's just that oil is nonrenewable

That reminds me...what are we going to do when the Middle East runs out of oil? They may have a decent supply now, but even they're gonna run out of oil eventually.

We'll find an alternate resource of course

 

[Gumball Machine]

Yeah, I know we have potential for other resources... like hydroelectric and solar power, but those have flaws.

 

[Ray Trace]

I know that but if we run out of oil, we have no choice but to cope with the flaws

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Everything is a limited resource. It's just that oil is nonrenewable

That reminds me...what are we going to do when the Middle East runs out of oil? They may have a decent supply now, but even they're gonna run out of oil eventually.

Either
A: Ignore it
B: Conquer it
C: Destroy it
D: All of the above but in the order of B, C, A

How is that going to get us anything? Besides, I dislike aggressive maneuvers on nations.

^Yes, that's why we have to develop their technology. Unfortunately, oil has an extremely high energy output compared to sunlight, hydroelectricity, etc.

 

[Ray Trace]

Everything is a limited resource. It's just that oil is nonrenewable

That reminds me...what are we going to do when the Middle East runs out of oil? They may have a decent supply now, but even they're gonna run out of oil eventually.

Either
A: Ignore it
B: Conquer it
C: Destroy it
D: All of the above but in the order of B, C, A

How is that going to get us anything? Besides, I dislike aggressive maneuvers on nations.

That was a joke....

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Oh... that was hard to tell.

 

[Gumball Machine]

Still, those flaws seem to outweigh the pros. Take solar power for instance. Solar means "sun", but it's not going to be sunny 24 hours a day, they maybe a storm and some places where's there's barely any sunlight (I think Alaska's one such place).

It's weird. Humans and technology have come a long way and we seem to have hit a dead end. I was actually looking forward to driving flying cars and wearing jetpacks once I become an old man.

 

[Ray Trace]

Still, those flaws seem to outweigh the pros. Take solar power for instance. Solar means "sun", but it's not going to be sunny 24 hours a day, they maybe a storm and some places where's there's barely any sunlight (I think Alaska's one such place).

Alaska has days where there is sunlight all day or no sunlight all day.

In my place, we could use solar power (it's mostly sunny here) and I live pretty close to a windy valley where there are electric fans for wind energy.

 

[Daniel Dyce]

Everything is a limited resource. It's just that oil is nonrenewable

That reminds me...what are we going to do when the Middle East runs out of oil? They may have a decent supply now, but even they're gonna run out of oil eventually.

Either
A: Ignore it
B: Conquer it
C: Destroy it
D: All of the above but in the order of B, C, A

How is that going to get us anything? Besides, I dislike aggressive maneuvers on nations.

That was a joke....

Actually I was talking about what will happen if the Middle East runs out of Oil

 

[Ray Trace]

The Middle East would probably go on an economic slump

 

[Daniel Dyce]

Much like Africa after the European nations were done with it

 

[Ray Trace]

Much like Africa after the European nations were done with it

Exactly. They will be stuck with a whole new lot of problems

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

However, they have a huge oil reserve. How quickly will it deplete? Before our native oil reserves?

 

[Ray Trace]

However, they have a huge oil reserve. How quickly will it deplete? Before our native oil reserves?

It all depends on our demand of oil

 

[Dr. Javelin]

I'm not going to argue the merits of what about 80% of Scientists believe because it's a pointless argument. Also of course it will help the future generations fun fact oil is a limited resource so are trees and fish (not as much fish but when you just go around catching and killing everything even the stuff you don't need or want)

Trees are certainly not an unrenewable resource.

Still, those flaws seem to outweigh the pros. Take solar power for instance. Solar means "sun", but it's not going to be sunny 24 hours a day, they maybe a storm and some places where's there's barely any sunlight (I think Alaska's one such place).

You can store energy accumulated during the day with solar energy. It seems like it wouldn't be enough, but the earth is bombarded with enough solar energy each day to power the world thousands of times over. I read somewhere that it would be feasibly possible to place enormous solar farms in areas where sunlight is abundant (such as Death Valley in the US, the Sahara in Africa) and they would produce enough energy for the entire world.

It's weird. Humans and technology have come a long way and we seem to have hit a dead end. I was actually looking forward to driving flying cars and wearing jetpacks once I become an old man.

An honest, but depressing answer: humanity doesn't have as much reason to invent things now as we did fifty, sixty years ago. At the start of the twentieth century, humanity was racing ahead. For heaven's sake, we invented airplanes around that time. Then BOOM Archduke Ferdinand gets shot, leading to WWI and the deaths of millions, in part thanks to the new technologies of humanity.

Humanity is recovering from this when BOOM Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese start wrecking the world. But actually, this leads to more improvements. WWII advanced technology and led to many useful things such as nuclear power and radio waves.

The Cold War led to the space race, which also advanced technology by leaps and bounds. But what happened? The Soviet Union collapsed, and with it the popularity of the space program.

These days, we just don't have the drive or need to invent key technologies.

 

[Ray Trace]

I'm not going to argue the merits of what about 80% of Scientists believe because it's a pointless argument. Also of course it will help the future generations fun fact oil is a limited resource so are trees and fish (not as much fish but when you just go around catching and killing everything even the stuff you don't need or want)

Trees are certainly not an unrenewable resource.

True, but they can become nonrenewable if we overdo the deforestation. But that basically applies to everything else I suppose

 

[Gumball Machine]

^ That's exactly what happened in "The Lorax". The Lorax and the forest critters overreacted to the Oncler cutting down one tree, but once more trees were being cut down, their reaction was justified. By not planting new trees, the Oncler was out of business, Thneedville was no longer a safe place to live.

The short version: cutting down trees is fine, but you have to remember to plant a new one in it's place.

 

[Ray Trace]

Yup, there's this thing called extinction: once it's gone, it can never be fully recovered

 

[Dr. Javelin]

Yes.

But they are renewable, which was my point. As long as reforestation is taking place, use of trees for paper is perfectly fine.

I've tried explaining this to people irl, but they never seem to get it for some reason. I suppose they'd rather blindly support environmentalism instead of looking at the facts.

 

[Gumball Machine]

Yep. It happened to the dinosaurs and the dodo bird. I can't help but wonder if humans will ever go extinct.

I've tried explaining this to people irl, but they never seem to get it for some reason. I suppose they'd rather blindly support environmentalism instead of looking at the facts.

Well, common sense is one thing adults sorely lack despite their intelligence.

 

[Ray Trace]

But they are renewable, which was my point. As long as reforestation is taking place, use of trees for paper is perfectly fine.

Yes, I agree it's fine. As long as it's sustainable, I'm good with cutting down trees.

 

[Daniel Dyce]

I'm not going to argue the merits of what about 80% of Scientists believe because it's a pointless argument. Also of course it will help the future generations fun fact oil is a limited resource so are trees and fish (not as much fish but when you just go around catching and killing everything even the stuff you don't need or want)

Trees are certainly not an unrenewable resource.

Your right Jack since they are living they wouldn't be unrenewable just like
Dodo Birds
Ivory Billed Woodpeckers
and Stephen Island Wrens...oh wait those things were all killed by humans

 

[Dr. Javelin]

I've tried explaining this to people irl, but they never seem to get it for some reason. I suppose they'd rather blindly support environmentalism instead of looking at the facts.

Well, common sense is one thing adults sorely lack despite their intelligence.

...you do realize that it's mostly teenagers who I talk to normally?

Meaning that this really doesn't apply to adults much?

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Responding to Javelin's post, (the one about the inventions), I don't think we stopped inventing. In fact, I think our technology is advancing exponentially. That is, it starts slowly, but it explodes later. Just look at video gaming. Before, it was games like Pong. Now? Games like Super Mario Galaxy. Same thing with movies. Before, they had no sound. Now? You can make futuristic scenes look real with advanced CGI.

 

[Gumball Machine]

O_O

I guess I have a diffrent point of view since we live in different states. Still, I'm baffled at the lack of common sense adults have. Things I don't see kids and teenagers doing. But whatever, this isn't really the thread to discuss that.

Responding to Javelin's post, (the one about the inventions), I don't think we stopped inventing. In fact, I think our technology is advancing exponentially. That is, it starts slowly, but it explodes later. Just look at video gaming. Before, it was games like Pong. Now? Games like Super Mario Galaxy. Same thing with movies. Before, they had no sound. Now? You can make futuristic scenes look real with advanced CGI.

Video games and movies are entertainment though, not something humans need to make their lives more convenient.