What will our descendants say about our burning oil to move cars and heat houses?

Question

We need oil for many things. The example always given is plastics, but more important is fertilizer. And because of weight considerations oil is hard to replace for airplanes. There are many other uses, of course.

Will one day our descendants wonder at our stupidity for having used it up doing things we could do better ways?

jbtascam - I pay an extra fee to my power company monthly to support the development of wind power. And seriously conserve energy.

Answer 1

I suspect they will be most displeased at the fact that we've known better for decades and simply have been to self-indulgent and lazy to change. They'll say to us "Thanks for screwing up our world, you selfish bast(a)rds!"

Answer 2

Our descendents for many generations to come will be using oil, kerogen or coal derived liquid fuels to move their cars. I have owned 5 houses in several different cities and none have used oil to for heat, I know some older houses do, but I suspect this will be phased out over time.

Fertilizer is usually not made from oil, it can be, but it is not the most efficient route. Fertilizer production involves the generation of hydrogen, the separation of nitrogen from the air and the combination of the two to produce ammonia. The most efficient feed stock for the production of hydrogen is natural gas, not oil.

Answer 3

It goes without saying that burning hydrocarbons for energy is an abomination. But this one folly is just the tip of the iceberg.

Our descendants will be so consumed with surviving that there will literally be no time for recriminations.

I like to think it will lead to a new ethos. An ethos born from experience.

The aboriginal cultures have only respect for the natural world. They use it to be sure, but with a reverence that recognizes it for the gift it is.

When we ignore the limits of the natural world and put everyone in harms way, what should the punishment be? That we have all acquiesced in this, but for a few brave souls, we are all guilty.

E.O. Wilson said "We will look back from the end of the 21st century with a profound sense of loss and regret".

Let us pray that a critical mass of people who care enough about the earth is formed, and the megalomaniacal are marginalized, sooner rather than later.

Cheers and good holiday.

Answer 4

That all depends on the action we take on climate change. Will we leave them with an atmosphere that they can easily live with or will we leave them a world where they exist in misery? There feelings towards us will be somewhere between feeling a quaintness of our old technology dependant on dirty fuel and thinking of us a self-interested creatures that are thankfully gone from the face of the planet.
One think for sure is they will know that we were aware of the state of the planet that we were going to leave them.

Answer 5

"What will history think we were, demi-gods? We're men. No more, no less." - Ben Franklin, in the musical "1776"

Mankind has a long and glorious history of exploiting natural resources to the last drop before moving on to the next idea. To claim that "history" will think less of us for being human is ludicrous.

There is a reason that "necessity is the mother of invention." It is only when it becomes necessary, either through depletion of resources, economic forces, or other considerations, that we will move from a cheap form of fuel to a more expensive one.

The only thing that caused the abandonment of CFCs in America was Congress putting a $40.00 a pound tax on them so that competing technologies would seem economical.

It was only when the Buffalo were no longer profitable to hunt because of the depletion of their numbers that they were finally and mercifully left alone.

And those who would change the world really need to change themselves first. Have YOU bought an electric car yet? Have you looked into whether your electricity is coming from a "renewable" source?

How little should we think of you for not taking the first step, then......???

Answer 6

They'll probably still be using oil since there's so much of it around. Hopefully they will have wised up and lifted the ban on drilling in Alaska by then. They'll also probably laugh at us for being stupid enough to fall for the "global warming" hoax and they would then be angry that they lost freedom and money because so many fell for the myth.

I'm sure they'll realize that the media and a lot of money pushed this hoax, but will still be amazed that seemingly intelligent people bought it hook, line and sinker.

Answer 7

They'll read about us and say "why did they put all of their research money into cell phones, music players and HDTV when the big solution to fusion energy was knocking on their doors for all those decades"?

Answer 8

We will wonder why we look to our governments for solutions to our problems instead of the free markets.

The public is demanding cleaner power, so what do the democrats in congress give us? A oil and coal protection program and a gift to Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

This newly declared war on carbon is just like the war on drugs or the war on poverty.

The politicians need both drug pushers and the poor to make themselves look important while the drug pushers and the poor need gvmt to keep the price of their product high or to insure that they keep getting welfare payments. The cycle never ends because there is no incentive.

Carbon will be the same way. Politicians will place greater limits on the people while giving greater protection to the oil and carbon industries.

It's foolish to think that the next president has the ability to resolve the problem.

Open up the free markets. Let electric companies compete for our business. Give us the ability to buy our energy from clean sources. Let nuclear power compete with coal. We will find it to be cleaner AND cheaper.

Nuclear power also gives us the ability to have electric cars that are recharged free from fossil fuels, and home could run electric heat and hot water instead of depending on dead dinosaurs.

I hope future generations see us as fools for looking to governments for the solutions to our problems.

Answer 9

The same as what we think of our own ancient caveman ancestors dancing naked around a campfire, obsolete and a little old fashioned i would say

Answer 10

Who knows. I think it is a very ancient way of energy and we need to change it. Fossil fuel will one day disappear. I am not only concerned about the atmosphere, I am concerned of the emptiness inside the planet and the fact that we are putting more and more pressure on the earth. It is bond to collapse inward.


Nuclear power is still bad for the envirment.. You cant get rid of nuclear waste.

Answer 11

History books will refer to this period as the oil era, just like people talk about the industrial revolution or medieval times, etc. I hope the next era is the technology era or the global exceptance era, and not the cleaning of environmental messes era.