ALTERNATIVES TO GROWTH LIVING WITHIN OUR LIMITS - D Paul Graunke - January 1978

D Paul Graunke

The lifeblood of the modern economy is fossil fuel, particularly oil. Prosperity depends on plenty of it, and the cheaper the better. There is plenty of oil right now, a glut on the world market in fact. But it is no longer cheap, thanks to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil cartel. And, if the experts are right, oil one day will become scarce and even more expensive because we live on a finite earth with finite resources, which we are exhausting at an ever increasing rate. Current estimates place the ultimately recoverable reserves of oil at about two trillion barrels. They may be less than that, maybe only 1.6 trillion barrels. Or they may be more than that, maybe as high as 3.7 trillion barrels by some estimates. But even if the latter figure turns out to be correct, the world economies have such a voracious and growing appetite for oil that demand will outstrip supply early in the next century. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library