Colleagues:

I thought I'd pass this along to you-all.  You may or may not ever
have heard the term "peak oil", however as a carbon biogeochemist (my
line of research) this term represents a very important event in
global and human history.  The peak represents a peak on a graph of
all the oil that has ever been, or ever could be pumped from the
earth.  As a finite resource petroleum will follow such a depletion
curve.  Of course the implications of this peak to humanity are
significant.  After we're sure the peak has been reached (a little
bit of a daunting task due to the widespread nature of the resource),
every drop of oil we pump from the earth will cost more. Why bring
this peak up now?  Well, a number of geophysicists and geochemists
estimate that this peak has occurred this year, or will occur next
year (one fellow goes as far as to say that the date of the peak will
be Thanksgiving Day, 2005).  Why haven't you heard much about "peak
oil" in the past?  Well, basically due to economists who have not
considered this aspect of oil in the past.  However, news out of
Washington this past Friday that Group of Seven (G7) ministers have
finally begun discussing the possibility that global  scarcity of oil
may be not be as temporary a problem as previously thought.  Check
out the following web sites for more information on this issue.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/100404_we_did_it.shtml

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=6396037

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=92871&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27194

Take care,

Henry Spratt
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______________________________________________________________________

Henry G. Spratt, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave.
Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598

Ph:     (423)425-4383
Fax:    (423)425-2285
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