Clean high tech solutions

> I'm reading John Varley's Slow Apocalypse. The premise is
> that all un-processed petroleum is destroyed by an act of
> bio-terrorism. In the middle of it right now, but so far
> it's scaring the spit out of me.
> john

why?
 =

> You have a Zambian daughter, Dan? =


> Two.=A0 The eldest, Neli, came to the US about 10 years
> ago.=A0 She is an
> ecconomist who was a Brookings Institute fellow for a couple
> of years,
> concentrating on African development.=A0 She was always
> second author on the
> papers she wrote, with a big name as first author.=A0 She
> was quietly upset
> until she found out high government officials called
> Brookings to complain
> about the papers and talked with the big wig instead of
> yelling at her.=A0 We
> were in Zambia for two weeks in August, with 10 from the US
> (including Neli
> and her American husband) and 5 from Zambia and went all
> over Zambia as one
> big happy American-African family.=A0 We went to the home
> villages of both of
> Neli's parents.=A0 I got to dance in lion skins with the
> village wariors at
> her mom's village.

 very cool!
 =

> >I have no clue at what point civilization was
> sustainable after the leap
> from hunter gatherer to =

> >agriculture to industrial society.=A0 I suppose it
> won't happen unless
> humanity matures beyond greedy,
> >pleasure seeking immediate gratification, self centered
> behavior, and that
> probably won't happen =

> >unless there is a singularity event.
 =

> Actually, most commodities (e.g. iron and copper) are used
> less now.=A0 If we
> can solve one of many problems (e.g. find a cheap way of
> storing energy,
> have a venture like Joule Technology work in synthetic
> biofuels, have a way
> to "poison" breeder reactor fuel output so it can't be used
> for bombs,
> develop mesoscopic physics to the point where solar cells
> are practical) in
> the next 250 years, we won't need to worry. =


If copper and iron are used less now, isn't that because we are using light=
er metals and petrochemical products more?
 =

> >How were the European Greens responsible for keeping
> Uganda poor, by
> turning them away from nuclear?=A0 =


> Two ways:
> 1) They have extremely strict and unreasonable standards for
> imported food.
> For example, its virtually impossible for US food products
> to be sold there. =

> 2) They convinced Uganda that using fertilizer and
> insecticides was bad.
> That's why the crop yield is so low.=A0 Little grows and
> the insects get most
> of it.=A0 The US, on the other hand, uses insecticides in
> cycles so it's hard
> for the insects to develop immunity to several
> insecticides...what is
> superior for one is inferior for the other.=A0 And,
> farmland is now adding
> topsoil with fertilizer and advanced techniques, and
> genetically modified
> crops.=A0 If we could get corn to fix nitrogen better,
> we'd be home free.
> Dan M.

and that is still the case?