Comments on the EGOproject
:Albert Bartlett (professor in physics, University of Colorado) (bartleta@stripe.colorado.edu)
Thanks so much for your writing on sustainability. It would seem that the people on
Easter Island have established a sustainable society out of the necessity of their
circumstances. We can probably learn from them. Your book looks to be comprehensive and
very thoughtful.
Roger Blanchard (associate professor in chemistry, Northern Kentucky University) (blanchard@NKU.EDU)
It is nice to hear from you. I have something that you might be interested in posting on your website. I've just completed a paper entitled "Depletion Rates of Major North Sea Oil Fields."
Richard Duncan (Institute on Energy and Man, Seattle) (duncanrc@halcyon.com)
Thanks for your itinerary information. An ambitious, and worthwhile, journey indeed. A bit like Darwins, 1832-1837. From 1981 to 1992 I journeyed to some 5o countries. ( ) My goal was to see for my self , first hand, what prospects are for global industrialization, a la USA style. Bottom Line Finding: Near zero (0)! This conclusion is defined by the Olduvai theory.
Tommy Dye jr. (tgdye@c-gate.net)
Very interesting web page I hope you continue your work.
Jay Hanson (journalist, Hawaii) (j@qmail.com)
I just took a quick look. My first impression is that you have put together a lot of excellent information -- quite a few things I didn't know. I am trying to finish a project against a deadline right now, but expect to be able to return in a couple of weeks and read the entire site. Thanks for all your hard work,
Craig Bond Hatfield (emeritus professor in geology University of Toledo)(chatfie@geology.utoledo.edu)
I enjoyed reading it, and I am impressed with its breath and depth. I think that this work should be published in a widely-read outlet. It will have to be carefully edited for this, because of somewhat awkward writing, which, I assume, merely reflects that English is not your first tongue. Your work is nevertheless clear, strong and very important.
I continue to hope that the work by the few of us who are concerned with future energy supply can inspire industry and governments to plan for the coming oil crisis via accelerated research on and development of alternative energy sources as well as via more efficient use of conventional oil fuels. But time is getting short , and society is not very receptive to the concept of finite natural resources and all that it implies.
Andy Homer (savage@easy.net.co.uk )
There is far too much analysis out there of what is wrong with the world. Much of it is
very well researched, often containing information I was unaware of. It is all very
interesting but where it nearly always falls down is in the analysis of what needs to
happen for the situation to improve. These analyses range from the very complex
descriptions of remedial measures, via extremely deep explanations of some leading-edge
science and technology (so much so that I often forget the purpose of the discourse--as it
seems the author has too), through various levels of alternative ways of extending the
life of civilization, down to the downright stupid (e.g. zero-point energy).
Only very rarely does someone capable a decent analysis of the situation seem to be able
read through their own work or understand what they themselves have written before
suggesting solutions. I can't describe how pleased I was to see your conclusions. In fact
there was only one short sentence that could be called a proposal for a solution: 'We must
leave our homes, our cars, our factories and all our luxury we have worked so hard
for."
Perfect. Why make it more complex than it already is? I would love to be able to keep all
the toys of technology, and the lazy lifestyle it engenders, but I realize that it is no
possible.
Jean Laherrere (oil geologist. Advisor Petroconsultants, Geneva) (j.h.laherrere@infonie.fr)
I have finished reading your paper and I wrote a lot of notes on the sides. It is fascinating and complete. I will send my comments soon to you. It should be constantly improved and kept up to date. I believe that it should be read by all geologists and I asked my friend Alain Perrodon (who wrote many books and papers) to write a review of your paper in Geochronique magazine of the Societe Geologique de France where he is a active writer. At my request he did the review of Walter Youngquist's book "Geodestinies" few months ago.
Matthias Nolting (Berlin) (bolo@mythos.in-berlin.de)
Indeed an interesting survey about our evident upcoming crisis. Why is it named
egoproject? Because it is anthropocentric? Since mankind is dominating earth's nature in
such an effective way, the center of the problem is "we". The problems are
clear, technically we will not basically solve it, just find small solutions, but it will
be hard to bring down overpopulation and profit maximized exploitation. With a profit
driven effectively the propulsion of
worlds exploitation will continue until it reaches our gardens, our homes, ourselves.
Imagine a huge vehicle. Its heavy rollers squeeze everything on its way. Economy
efficiency is the motor and poverty is the slope that becomes exponentially steeper. Some
are enjoying the speed, some jump off, some have fallen down, some try to break with their
fingernails... But everyone has the idea of a sudden stop.
David Pimentel (professor in agriculture, Cornell University) (dp18@cornell.edu)
Thank you very much for your letter and copy of your work on WHERE IS OUR PLANET EARTH HEADING TO IN THE NEXT CENTURY? I feel that you have produced an outstanding book and I hope that it is widely read throughout the world. I feel that your section on world oil is extremely well done. When we run out of oil, the impact on the world agriculture and all other aspects of society will be catastrophic. If you have not seen it, the book by Walter Youngquist on GEODESTINIES is excellent. Your section on world food is very good. One number that I did not see was the recent World Health Organization report (1996) indicating that more than 3 billion people are alnourished worldwide. This is the largest number and proportion ever. Again, thank you very much for sharing your work with me.
Richard Reese (rreese@mail.portup.com)
It's so funny -- you care deeply about the Earth and future generations, you devote years to study, you make astonishing discoveries -- and nobody wants to hear about them, and everybody resents you for talking about them. Hee! Hee! You develop a deep appreciation for the stunning stupidity of the citizens of industrial civilization.
I think that we should respond with celebration! Imagine if there had been ten times more oil, gas, and coal -- the population explosion would continue, the destruction of ecosystems and species would continue, and the result at the end of the game would be a complete horror. It is so wonderful that civilization will end before the birds are all gone, before the trees are extinct, before all of the fish have been eaten. Rejoice!
We have lived like complete monsters, and soon we will pay the price. That is fair and right.
In all of your studies, have you ever read of a culture more miserable and insane than our own? I haven't. What could possibly be worse than the status quo? Its passing will be a great healing -- if we can break free from the 10,000 year cycle of repeated mistakes.
Ed Renshaw (Department of Economics, University at Albany) (renshaw@csc.albany.edu)
It was nice of you to send me a copy of EGOproject, which contains a lot of valuable material and interesting quotations and reference. If there is a concerned response from other recipients of EGOproject I believe that you ought to encourage some of the younger responders to establish a collective website to monitor some of the economic and financial implications of a possible peaking out of oil production the next decade. Some brief summaries of on going research and participating home pages might be helpful to concerned citizens as well ad economic and geology professors and students.
Ron Swenson (developer renewable energy) (rbs@ecotopia.com)
You talk appropriately about the coming brick wall, but you can quantify that far
better with a few facts. If anything, you are not clear enough about how serious the
coming oil crisis will be in that regard. The facts are before you on our website. As Dr.
Campbell says, "Of course, our numbers are wrong. *But* please tell me, BY HOW
MUCH?"
Mathis Wackernagel (Ecological footprint) (wackernagel@rprogress.org)
Thank you for your email with a lot of interesting facts. Best wishes and keep up your excellent work!
John Zerzan (journalist and activist, Eugene, Orogon)
Thank you so much for EGOproject, a book that covers such a lot an a passionate and in depth way.
PS Ed Renshaw suggested me to establish a collective website of people concerned about the future of our world. Well this maybe the first step?
Please send me your suggestions, comments and e-mail addresses for the collective website to geopol@worldonline.nl.