New Limits to Growth Revive Malthusian Fears

"We're living in an era where the technologies that have empowered high living standards and 80-year life expectancies in the rich world are now for almost everybody," says economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, which focuses on sustainable development with an emphasis on the world's poor. "What this means is that not only do we have a very large amount of economic activity right now, but we have pent-up potential for vast increases [in economic activity] as well." The world cannot sustain that level of growth, he contends, without new technologies.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120613138379155707.html

Double-digit oil price is history: R S Sharma

Against these hard facts, ‘Peak Oil’ theory has kept every one guessing. Have we reached the peak or not quite yet? We may not have a definite answer as of now, but its effect is quite visible on the dynamics of the oil market. Now, many oil geologists believe that 90% of the globe’s oil fields have already been tapped and many are already exhausted. This is reflected in the report cards of oil MNCs. Reserve replacement ratios (RRR) for most, if not all, is less than one. These fundamental and non-fundamental factors have a cause-and-effect relationship. Energy needs have generated unprecedented competition to establish control over oil and gas assets leading to intense geo-politics and resource nationalism. This makes resource centres unstable and prices volatile, intensifying speculative activities in the energy markets.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Double-digit_oil_price_is_history_R_...