Depletion Of Natural Resources And The Decline Of Mankind

In order to thoroughly understand humanity’s total relationship to the globe we must have the broadest possible view, to see as much of this complex picture as we can. We must use the equivalent of a very-wide-angle lens. The reason we haven’t been looking at this big picture enough is that when the population was much smaller the Earth seemed infinite by comparison. But our planet is far from infinite, far from an endless source of everything forever, and Earth’s population has expanded enormously. Early Homo sapiens didn’t use most of our currently essential resources at all, but resource mining and harvesting has increased exponentially as both populations and modern technologies have developed, especially in the last two centuries.

In the past I have been studying energy, “global warming”, population growth, the increase in consumption per capita, and the depletion of finite natural resources. When we integrate all of those factors with their magnitudes and rates of change we see that depletion of natural resources is going to cause a major decline of mankind within the foreseeable future.

I am usually an optimist, but here I find myself to be the consolidator and bearer of long-term scary news. I repeat: Our depletion of natural resources will cause the decline of mankind. Please prove me wrong.

Please read my complete essay in the link below.

The depletion of natural resources is going to cause a major decline of mankind within the foreseeable future.

Francis D. Reynolds
June 2012

Francis Reynolds, PE. is an Engineering graduate of the University of Washington now retired from a career in Boeing Engineering Management. He has eight patents, both private and corporate.

His book, Crackpot or Genius? A complete guide to the Uncommon Art of Inventing has been published in both paperback and hardcover, and he taught university-level evening courses on inventing for years.

His book, The Revolutionary Dualmode Transportation System, is online at http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/rev/revcontents.htm.

He has had roughly 175 articles published in Journals, magazines and newspapers, and has lectured nationally including the presentation of an Engineering Colloquium at NASA Goddard in Oct. 1994.