Plan B 4.0 - A discussion on Chapter 2

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(1) - ”As land and water become scarce, competition for these vital resources intensifies within societies, particularly between the wealthy and those who are poor and dispossessed.”

I don’t think we are anywhere near this scenario just yet. The thought definitely scares me and I completely agree. We need water to survive and land to live on. Unfortunately, if we keep over-consuming and destroying our soils this unfortunate scenario will come true. Thousands of lives would be lost to dehydration or other illnesses related to a lack of water. I just don’t understand how greed could drive someone to knowingly destroy all our water supplies. The scarier thought is that no one is stopping these companies. Isn’t there supposed to be policies in place so that we don’t overexploit the earth’s resources?

(2) - “In this new situation, when the price of oil climbs, the world price of grain moves up toward its oil-equivalent value.”

I didn’t know that grain and oil were so connected. I had no idea we were actually giving up security in our food sources to produce more automobiles. That’s insane to me. I almost don’t want to believe it. From what it seems, the United States is doing a lot better then other countries but I believe if we keep using up our resources we will be in the same situation. It’s unbelievable how making money becomes more important then the future of the human race. Countries just waste away their soils so that they can make money. It makes you think what these countries want so much money for when they can’t help their own people?

(3) - “The grain required to fill an SUV’s 25-gallon tank with ethanol just once will feed one person for a whole year.”

This quote startled me the most. I was shocked to find out that a 25-gallon tank with ethanol could feed one person for a whole year. The problem is that cars are very convenient. Do we stop production of cars altogether? That is a very difficult question to answer. I don’t think production of cars would stop until the problem gets much worse. Unfortunately, that’s how we have been dealing with environmental issues over the past years and look where we are now in terms of environmental sustainability. We just do something and worry about the effects later. Then we try to solve the problem by making another technological solution instead of looking at the root of the issue. I don’t believe that is the right way to solve a problem but it seems to be working for now…