watch my lips(so to speak): it doesn't matter.

oil will be gone as a large scale fuel source in the life of people now living. coal will not last much longer. yellowcake will disappear soon after that, if the human race is stupid enough to let the pollies and miners dig it up.

planet earth is not an inexhaustible mine. we will use renewable energy sources because that's all this grossly overpopulated planet will provide. the sooner we begin the transition, the less painful it will be.

it may be that immediate and rapid transition will save the planet from a metastable irreversible translation to 'venusian' conditions, but since few people believe this, concentrate on the necessity to preserve as much oil as possible for the non-energy uses which also underpin our economy.

conversion to a low energy lifestyle is simple and cheap in the initial stages. listening to pollies talk about preserving the economy is going to be disastrous. ..and your choice is?

Demos, you really shouldn't spell out the fundamental truths in such a brutal way.

Yes, the oil, coal and gas will soon run out (perhaps a little slower than you say, but inevitably).

Yes, uranium ores will make little difference because there just plain isn't enough of the stuff.

Yes, that will leave us with solar, wind, geothermal, and crop fuels. These, maxed out with our current technologies, could only supply a fraction of our current energy consumption.

Undeniably, there is a great deal of pain ahead.

But why deny people hope when, as you say, it makes no difference what we believe or dream.

And maybe there is hope. After all, there's still a modest chance Santa, or fusion technologies can save us

We have a few hundred years of coal left, then there's shale. More than enough time do some damage.

Why should anyone give a stuff about what will happen (or not) in 50 years time? Who can possibly know? Tell me what will win the Melbourne Cup in November! Or the 5th in Sydney on Saturday.

Should you regard this as trivial and absurd,having absolutely nothing to do with Global Warming/Climate Change, I'll make it more relevant for you. There are some very exhaustive Form Guides for the races (Sportsman,The Wizard,The Winning Post) and hundreds of websites, radio programmes,TV channels etc etc examining every variable and factor known to influence the outcome of a horserace. For more than 300 years the greatest scientific brains have studied and expanded, and expounded upon, the discipline of Puntology. We've got computers working on it day and night. Modelling galore. We've got every sort of analysis, rating, probability theory applications, mathematical investigations. We can elaborate and extrapolate every conceivable possible outcome, and even assign odds on every one of these outcomes occurring.

So, who believes we can foretell the outcome of the 5th Race in Sydney on Saturday? What about the 5th race in Brisbane....in 50 years time? cheers.

If Bob Carter fails to persuade the world to ignore global warming and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and he is right, then no real damage will have been done. We will have learnt to produce energy more efficiently and use it more effectively. But if he does persuade the world to ignore global warming and he is wrong, then Professor Carter and his followers will be responsible for the greatest human catastrophe, even the end of our species. He should bear this in mind.

David Whitehead,
Point Lookout

What an absurd argument to make on a politics forum. Not being able to predict the future in fine detail is no reason not to try to make the best of it.