Trading One Dependence for Another: The lesser of Two Evils and the Ultimate Evil

            As a technologically advanced society, we are infinite and ever increasing consumers. Our goal is profit and our systems are based on perpetual competition. The world is for conquering under our market definitions and left unchecked there will not be much of a world left to continue to exploit. So many resources are finite in this equation that it take a necessary perceived blindness to continue business as usual. Long-term thinking has no place in the immediate rewards of short-term gain due to the current systems in place. At this point people are slowly waking up to the impossibility of unchecked, sustained growth, and along with a great many other solutions available, many people have decided that this system may be able to continue with a little fine-tuning. One of these methods of fine-tuning has been the advent of renewable energy systems. Undeniably, even with there are shortcomings, these technologies are the answer to our consumption of finite fuels. Unfortunately, we are still trading one evil for the lessor of the two. In exchange for decreases in our consumption of finite fossil fuels, we will, intern, be limited by the rare earth metals that make up essential components necessary for our continued production of “green” technologies. Michael Klare provides an updated account of the current state of world consumption of rare earth elements in his book The Race For What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources.

            According to Klare, “The rare earth elements (REE) include seventeen different metallic substances with distinctive characteristics. Most of them are located in a continuous stretch of the periodic table of elements, beginning with lanthanum and extending to lutetium; in addition, the group also includes yttrium and scandium…” (2012, p. 154). These elements are so important because they fuel the world’s technological advance. The majority of today’s technological gadgets and products use these elements. These elements form strong, light, metal alloys and many are magnetic or have special optical properties (Klare, 2012). They also happen to be at the heart of most technologically advanced defense systems. Satellites, night vision equipment, precision guided munitions, communications systems, radar systems, lasers, and avionics all require these precious materials (Klare, 2012). Any country without access to these rare elements risks being easily overpowered by those who have them and the technologies they help provide for.

            The thing is, they are also crucial to the renewable technologies environmental movement. About 20 percent of REEs consumption is due to clean energy applications (Klare, 2012). On top of that, Klare says that when extracting these elements from impure sources “The procedure usually involves using acids of various kinds to leach rare earths from the surrounding stone, producing toxic wastes that can poison farms and water supplies unless carefully disposed of” (2012, p. 158). In other words, unless done carefully, renewable technologies have the potential to harm the earth and everything that depends on it. The speed of the growth in demand has the most potential to blind people to this fact. From 2010 to 2015, demand is estimated to jump from 124,000 tons to 185,000 tons (Klare, 2012). That is an increase of almost 50 percent. Without precautions and safeguards against over extraction and destruction of the planet it will be impossible to create the “green” future so many people imagine.

This is not to say that we should not develop renewable energy technologies, but to remind us that our overall system is still left largely unchecked. Renewable technologies hold our highest potential for sustained living. Despite this, nothing short of social change has the full potential of achieving ultimate longevity in all arenas where commerce abides. Our conspicuous consumption is worse than the damage fossil fuels and green technologies could do when put together. We are a waste-creating machine thanks to the current reward systems set in place. It will not matter as much how we achieve critical resource depletion if we still ultimately achieve it in a way that undermines the health of the natural ecological systems that give us our perceived wealth and health. As we share the same biosphere as any other organism found within earth’s closed ecological system, our health is a direct function of our environment and the planet that provides it. It is for this reason that we must reinvent consumption to fit within the boundaries that limit us. This is common sense to anyone without current societal blinders affixed. Conspicuous consumption is our problem, and without fixing it or at least taking steps closer to it we are simply stalling inevitable exhaustion.

References

Klare, M. T. (2012). The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources (First ed.). Metropolitan Books.

The Price of Food

Ultimately, the world economy is supposed to have prices within its markets that reflect supply and demand on some level. Unfortunately, there are also a number of other factors at work as well as effects on supply and demand when it has come to food prices over the past year. Why are Food Prices So High?, by Steve Odland, Rising Temperature Raising Food Prices, by Lester Brown, and In a World Hungry for Biofuels, Food Security Must Come First, by Olivier De Schutter provide some insight as to the causes that are currently pushing food prices so high.

The larger the global economy has gotten the more interconnected and dependent prices have been on the entire world situation rather than anything that actually happens within a single countries boarder. Supply and demand are fluctuating at least partly because of events abroad. Fast growing populations like those recently seen in China and India have increased demand as expected, but weather has also been a factor in this year’s rising prices (Odland, 2012). This year has been marked by record high temperatures that have hurt crops all over the world (Brown, 2012). Seafood prices are up 6 percent because of the recent tsunami in japan and crop damage in South America, Australia, and Russia are all driving up vegetable prices by 50 percent (Odland, 2012). Oil prices also have a huge impact on food prices in general. Petroleum based fertilizers, plastic packaging with its plastic labels and ink, and produce transportation costs are all affected by the rising price of oil (Odland, 2012). As oil prices rise and severe weather events increase, food prices will be directly affected in the years to come. The removal of some pesticides is also thought to be decreasing crop yield in favor of quality (Odland, 2012). This stress on the overall supply and demand will continue to fluctuate as it always has and much of what occurs will be impossible to prevent.

There are a number of other factors outside the market’s control as well. Subsidized biofuels, like ethanol, are driving up food costs whenever efforts require food stocks as a source of fuel (Odland, 2012). According to a general consensus that has steadily been gaining purchase abroad, Olivier De Schutter says that “the latest calculations show that US ethanol policies have increased the food bills of poor food-importing countries by more than 9 billion dollars since 2006” (2012). The US is also effecting global prices because it is reducing the food supply by paying farmers not to plant to save water (Odland, 2012). Cropland is growing scarcer as a quarter of the globe’s land has already been sufficiently degraded (De Schutter, 2012). Supply and Demand is highly distorted by import tariffs and export taxes imposed by countries around the world. Interestingly enough, certain commodities are also driving up the prices of other goods, as is the case with soy and corn effecting egg prices in china being sold to the US (Odland, 2012). With these general trends it is easy to imagine food prices raising an increasing amount in the years to come.

 In the United States it has been a bad year for the food market for a number of reasons. According to Steve Odland, “The USDA sees food prices rising 2.5-3.5 percent in 2012 but many believe that inflation could be much higher” (2012). Food prices were directly affected in the U.S. by the United States Department of Agriculture’s overestimate of the corn harvest, which was projected to yield a record 376 million tons (Brown, 2012). Over estimates indicate that prices will decrease because of the excess of supply when in reality supply is much lower this year than originally foretold. This was not helped by the most extensive drought the United States has had in half a century leaving 63 percent of the nation without enough natural rain fall (Brown, 2012). In the future, Americans can count on this being a trend associated with global increases in temperature. Global warming is now considered to be a serious problem to future food security over the long run as identified by the 2012 Ecosummit (Brown, 2012). A few manufacturers have also manage to distort true prices in the United States by holding off on price increases in hopes that the prices would decrease again before it becomes an issue (Odland, 2012). In order to get prices down a number of changes are needed, many of which are beyond human control.

The world has some touch times ahead if this general food price trend continues. In order to make a real difference, the entire world will have to address global warming and even then it is impossible to undo some of what has already been done. There is no controlling natural disaster, put it may be possible to reduce human impact on the earth. Unfortunately, this is a problem of such epic proportions that short of directly addressing population growth, it is doubtful real progress could be made. Price increases in food and other commodities directly affected by these trends will make the purchase of other goods harder in many people’s daily lives. Supply and demand has to be accurately reflected in price with externalities included. If any progress is to be made on any of these issues it will require a global effort on a scale never seen before.

References

Brown, L. (2012, September 4). Rising Temperature Raising Food Prices. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lester-brown/rising-temperature-food-prices_b_1856186.html

De Schutter, O. (2012). In a World Hungry for Biofuels, Food Security Must Come First. Common Dreams. Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/17-12

Odland, S. (2012). Why Are Food Prices So High? - Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveodland/2012/03/15/why-are-food-prices-so-high/

Unconventional Hydrocarbons

Oil has become a chief staple of society so it is not surprising that instead of coming up with alternatives to its use, many people are trying to find alternative sources of it. The scope of the world’s addiction is unfathomable.  Oil is an addiction like any other accept that instead of only hurting the individual and those who are in most direct proximity to the person, the use of oil is dooming the environment that supports all human (and any other forms of) life. If there was ever a habit that needed kicking, it is oil. The lure of its power prevents change that may be better for all of those involved (and those not involved). Some Westernized countries have begun to reduce their dependence on oil and its foreign sources, but the United States is lagging behind. It is time for the United States to go to rehab, but apparently it will need to be dragged kicking and screaming, because instead stopping after the easiest sources of oil are exploited, the U.S. (along with some other countries) are looking into unconventional hydrocarbons as a solution. Michael Klare’s The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the Worlds Last Resources provides information about the current state of alternative hydrocarbons.

Tar sands are seen by many in the United States as an acceptable alternative to oil because a huge source of it lies just beyond its boarders in a stable country it has relatively good relations with (Canada). Unfortunately, the process is not kind to the land and the oil is much harder to extract than conventional oil. The landscape is basically skinned alive and scrapped to the bone in order to try and get every bit of available energy. All of the trees are cut down across the entire area being mined and the topsoil is removed leaving thick oily sands for extraction. According to Klare, it takes “an average of four tons of sand and peat for ever barrel of oil produced” (2012, p. 102). Any integrity the oil-saturated soil may have had is completely destroyed by grinders, and than water and chemicals are added to create syncrude (Klare, 2012). Klare writes that the destruction is so total that the destroyed landscape can be seen from space. Any damage that is so exorbitant that it can be seen from space can only be bad news for the future of the human species.  The hazardous pools of waste left behind generally kill any wildlife, in this case usually birds, that cross through an area where tar sand mining has been done. This overall process is also extremely energy intensive, so a lot of energy is used up in the attempt to perpetuate the thirst for oil the world has. Not only is the oil harder to extract from tar sands, it also is much more polluting than conventional oil. Klare says that “According to the Pembina Institute, producing a barrel of oil from tar sands releases 188.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, compared to only 63 pounds for a barrel produced by conventional means” (2012, p. 104). Only a system built on thoughtless, blind addiction could follow an energy path like this.

There are other ways to get these unconventional hydrocarbons, but none of them are good for the health of the planet, or by extension, human beings. Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage of SAGD is another technique to remove oil from tar sands that uses steam to pool oil where it can be pumped up from under the ground (Klare, 2012). Anything that heats the earth to this degree must surely destroy anything living in or around it. The process is very water intensive and it may appear to be less damaging to the land, but it will still kill the land and a lot of the surrounding life. Kerogen, in shale, is another source of oil that can be pumped up after heating it over 530 degrees Fahrenheit (Klare, 2012). This system of extraction is also extremely water and energy intensive and will damage the ability of the affected area to support life. Electric heaters are also being tested to extract Kerogen, but a highly energy intensive wall of frozen earth is required to keep the extracted materials from polluting the water sheds close by (Klare, 2012).  This process seems insane, as it requires to extremes to be maintained for success. Electrofrac is another unconventional alternative that uses water to expose Kerogen and electricity to heat it (Klare, 2012). Explosives, microwaves beams, and chemicals are also being tested to get the same effect (Klare, 2012). All of the solutions will do irrevocable harm to the land’s integrity. Hydrofracking for natural gas and oil, coal-bed methane, coal to liquid (CTL), and methane hydrate will also likely support the world’s finite fuel source addiction.

            To say any of these unconventional hydrocarbons could be considered a solution is extremely naïve because petroleum, and the other fuel sources mentioned, are still finite resources no matter how much can be harvested that could not be in the past.  These sources of energy may well effectively allow some countries, like the United States, to continue business as usual for a little longer, but in the end the result can only be worse due to the reduced health of the earth that reduces human health proportionally. Being addicted to oil is just like being addicted to any other substance; too much of anything is unhealthy for everyone involved.

References

Klare, M. T. (2012). The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources (First ed.). Metropolitan Books.