To realise that our energy resources are not infinite does not require a great deal of debate, if we look at a picture of our solar system, we can see that there is only one planet earth, and we live on this Planet, there are no fuel lines attached to our planet from others in the solar system, we only have one lot of resources on the one planet that we live on.
However whilst it is glaringly obvious that we only have a finite amount of energy, we act as if these resources are infinite, and in doing this we using everything up at a rapid and ever accelerating rate.
The repercussions of this absurd and frivolous way of seeing and using resources are many, some of the more important ones, such as the destruction of ours, and others habitats on the planet, the loss of the ability to produce the basic resources needed for human existence.
One little statistical equation that proves this point is when you think about how much work kilogram of oil carries out for us on our behalf; it provided the equivalent of 200 hours of human work. All of our vital resource systems are heavily dependent on oil to churn out the volume needed to feed and sustain are rapidly growing population. Oil has enabled us to build our civilization, a civilization that exceeds the demand of what is needed to maintain it.
To address this we can look at our own energy consumption and reduce it to a much lower level, and we can also move towards energy generation where there are no detrimental ecological outcomes. Thanks to activists and concerned insightful people we are now able to access plans and designs to make our own winder generators, solar panels, fuel efficient rocket and wood gasifier stoves online at the click of a mouse, in many cases it is possible to build your own type of generator using materials that can found on tips and in scrap yards, or picked up from Freeconomy and free cycle communities. Whilst Politicians and the fossil fuels lobby promote a skeptical view of renewable energies, there are individuals and communities that live completely independently of the fossil fuel energy grid, and they are doing so by using renewable energy.
Steve