How would neo-Malthusians and anti-Malthusians respond to the concept of peak oil?
by
sofiyakoval (student)
How would neo-Malthusians and anti-Malthusians respond to the concept of peak oil?
In the second half of the 19th century incredible properties of oil have been found. As progress doesn’t stand still more and more oil is used to produce more energy and goods for the growing population. There will be one day, for the world or a country, when “oil production reaches its highest level of production, with production declining thereafter.” This is called peak oil.
Some countries have already reached peak oil and now rely mostly on imports (for example the USA). “The Peak Oil theory maintains that world production of conventional oil will soon reach a maximum, or peak, and decline thereafter, with grave socio-economic consequences.” This theory is absolutely justified, because oil is a finite slowly-renewable resource that is bound to run out one day, even though new oilfields are found, therefore oil must run out soon. As oil demand increases and is expected to grow 50% in the nearest 30-50 years, to meet this demand larger volumes of oil will have to be produced. In the 1960s scientists believed that we would face peak oil by the end of the 20th century, but we still have oil and new predictions tell that we will reach peak oil in 2050.
