Energy: patterns, planning and architecture

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

As a result, we do not face one single, neat little crisis (labeled "energy") in America at this time. If we continue our present course, we're up against potential catastrophe in, at a minimum, the following areas:

ENERGY BREAKDOWN: We've already experienced regional brownouts and spot shortages of heating and motor fuel. Such disruptions will occur—sooner or later—on a national scale. As we become more desperate, we'll eventually invest an exponential consumption of energy in a frantic search for new energy . . . leaving ourselves, quite probably, with a negative gain.

RESOURCE DEPLETION: Our most easily exploited natural resources have largely been tapped. The cream has already been—or is currently being—skimmed away and we face, at best, a future diet of low-fat milk. The last year has seen supply failing to meet demand in a number of fields by six months to a year. Many items are simply "not available until further notice". The building industry, although depressed, can look forward only to severe shortages of all supplies . . . particularly steel, hardwoods, paper, plywood glues and plastics. A U.S. Geological Survey suggests that new construction could grind to a virtual halt in this country as early as 1985 due to a lack of resources.

FOOD SHORTAGES: We are already seeing an inflationary rise in the price of food. Next will come a real shortage with its attendant hoarding and the stockpiling of weapons for the protection of those hoards. In a desperate effort to feed ourselves, we'll probably allow agribusiness to make a last assault on the Great Plains. This may well result in an almost complete removal of all plants, trees and animals that we do not consider to be edible (thanks to pressure from mankind, life forms are already becoming extinct at a rapidly increasing rate). We can expect a further "mining" of our soil . . . more severe flooding and droughts as the land loses the ability to absorb moisture . . . greater losses to insects, forest fires and other natural calamities as we intensify the monoculture of crops.

Nor will this steady path downward be confined to the land: Jacques Cousteau, the noted oceanographer, estimates that the amount and vitality of marine life off U.S. shores has been diminished by 50% since 1937. Future pollution and overfishing will only accelerate this trend and, finally, result in the extinction of cod, tuna, swordfish, squid, shrimp and other seafood.

PROFESSOR GEORGE H. RAMSEY VERSUS HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print