Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
9
F
OSSIL
-F
UELED
C
IVILIZATION
Patterns and Trends
The oil rigs in Bahrain imply a buyer
who counts no cost, when all is said and done.
The logs give back, in burning, solar fire
persistence of significant intake disparities and even of
hunger in rich societies is a matter of distributional, that
is, social inequalities.) The abundant food supply reflects
the high output density of modern agriculture, which is
subsidized by numerous direct and indirect inputs of fos-
sil energies (see chapter 10).
There is a high level of material affluence, reflecting
large amounts of energy invested in producting basic
commodities like metals, building materials, and modern
synthetic compounds as well as in providing energy-
intensive services. Mechanization of agricultural and
industrial labor transferred most of the daily work to the
light exertion category (see section 5.2) as humans be-
came primarily controllers and managers of fossil fuel
and electricity flows and gained more time for leisure.
A notable component of this affluence is the high mo-
bility of products via trucks, railways, ships, and planes, and
of people via private and public carriers. This mobility
was made possible by the introduction of progressively
but Good Gulf gives it faster; every tire
is by the fiery heavens lightly spun.
Nothing is lost but, still, the cost grows higher.
So guzzle gas, the leaden night draws nigher
when cinders mark where stood the blazing sun.
The logs give back, in burning, solar fire;
nothing is lost but, still, the cost grows higher.
John Updike, From ''Energy: A Villanelle'' (1985)
The principal attributes distinguishing a mature fossil-
fueled civilization from its predecessors are easy to de-
scribe. Most notably, there is a secure, abundant, and
varied food supply, ensuring average per capita availabil-
ity levels far in excess of any imaginable needs. (The
