
The world should not rely on fossil fuel
Date: Thursday, November 24, 2005 @ 19:54:26 UTC Topic: General
Letter published November 22nd in the Christian Science Monitor
Regarding
the Nov. 9 (Monitor) article "How soon will world's oil supply peak?": Huge deposits of
methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, are locked
in permafrost, which is beginning to melt quickly all over the world. Within the
past five years the surface permafrost in an area in Siberia the size of France
and Germany combined is melting for the first time since the last ice age,
11,000 years ago.
Methane released from melting permafrost could quickly
eliminate most life in the Arctic. As the methane drifted south, it could
threaten all life on earth.
Present efforts to slow global warming fall
tragically short of what is needed. We may be facing a little-publicized
planetary emergency.
The very hope for the survival of human life
requires an extremely rapid end to dependence on oil, gas, and coal, whether or
not we have reached peak extraction of these resources. Those with vested
interests in the oil industry must recognize their most important interest is
life itself.
During World War II, the US produced armaments in quantities
that would have been unbelievable a short time earlier. To slow global warming,
a similar effort to develop breakthrough systems to produce energy, as well as
rapid expansion of all current carbon-free energy technologies, must become an
urgent priority.
Mark Goldes
Chairman and CEO Magnetic Power
Inc.
Sebastopol, Calif.
|
|