Global energy and global limits

We've come to an interesting zero-sum kind of place on the planet.That is to say, interesting, in the sense of the purported Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”Opportunities for extracting resources are no longer limitless, and the planet's various reserve capacities appear in many cases to be tapped out.Natural systems at one time presumably had a capacity for handling short term changes in inputs.

A pulse of carbon dioxide could be absorbed by plants and marine life, as an example. Today, the absorption seems at capacity, and a pure chemical relationship has taken over—as we dump more carbon dioxide in, increasing levels of carbon dioxide dwell in the atmosphere; oceans grow more acid.Humans don't have much opportunity for pioneering, for leaving civilization and going to never-inhabited places and tilling never-tilled soil.

Polynesian voyagers ran out of new islands a millenium ago. American pioneers ran into a western ocean within the last few centuries. Virtually all the habitable lands on the planet are inhabited. It means that in many cases, if you're gonna do something new, you've got to shove something old out of the way.The global food budget that suddenly seems limited. Where once we were assured that the American farmer had reserve capacity to feed the world.

Now, take some acreage out of food grains for fuel, and there are shortages, price hikes.Which leads to a thought about the carbon-neutrality of biofuels.In theory if you sequester carbon dioxide in a corn plant or oil palm, and then convert it into fuel, and then release the same carbon dioxide in burning the fuel—well then, it's a balance. As much carbon in as out. No net impact on the atmosphere.