"Out of Gas"

Paper Summary:

The paper examines David Goldstein's book "Out of Gas" where he makes the dire prediction that civilization will cease to exist by the latter half of the twenty-first century, unless society learns to live without fossil fuels. The paper describes how Goldstein covers the history of Earth and the creation of the oil reserves, global warming, the scientific theories that gave rise to the industrial revolution and the energy sources available today. The paper shows how his predictions are dire and solutions not readily apparent.

From the Paper:

"The Hubbert curve is a mathematical representation of when the rate at which oil us consumed exceeds the rate that oil reserves are discovered. In 1956 he predicted that this point on the curve would be reached around 1970 (Goldstein 26). It in fact did occur just a few years latter than he predicted, but nonetheless we have been increasing our rate of consumption oil faster than our rate of discovery for just over thirty years. All the world's oil (and fossil fuel) reserves were created millions of years ago when plants absorbed large portions of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sank to the bottom of the oceans, became compressed in layers of sand, and with heat from the earth's core, became the fossil fuel deposits that we tap today. The reserves of oil are estimated to be two to two point seven trillion barrels, a supply that should last about another 40 years (Goldstein 29)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Goldstein, David. Out of Gas. New York: W.W. Norman & Company, Inc., 2004

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