Ramifications of the wasting of our finite natural resources

Published September 12, 2016 | By Will Tuttle

The collision of soaring demand for fossil fuels with their permanently diminishing availability will cause unremitting upward price pressure as demands continue to expand and conflicts over limited oil escalate. With the coming unavoidable decline in fossil fuel availability, the days of cheap animal foods are numbered. We may begin to recognize that eating animal foods is an unacceptable waste of our limited petroleum supplies. Already people are getting outraged about the petroleum wasted by large SUVs that are inefficient compared to economy cars by a factor of perhaps three to one. Will we get similarly outraged at people eating beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and dairy products, which are inefficient compared to plant foods by factors that far exceed those of the biggest SUVs—factors of 10, 15, and 25 to one?