Point: There is an estimated 7 Saudi Arabias in the Canadian tar sands at present grades.  The cost to obtain this oil is currently $11-12 per barrel.  Suncor and Syncrude will invest approximately $6 billion in these tar sands over the next few years.  The amount that is currently known should last us for the next 125 years. … Counterpoint: To replace conventional crude — 70 million barrels a day — would require about 350 new plants. If each of the 350 plants were the size of the present plant, they would require a waste pond of 8,750 sq. km. Or about  the half the size of Lake Ontario. But even at 100% efficiency, 300 billion barrels of oil sands would only last 12 years at 70 million barrels a day. (01/03/02)

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There are things we could do, no matter who we are, to get changes rolling. I’ve posted a set of principles for society, and a plan for getting there. …  Scott Meredith writes: “Actually this is true. Arthur has at least proposed something, thus he’s done more than most of the rest of us have. I guess we all remain silent in the teeth of our understanding the degree of inertia that would need to be overcome to make the changes he has outlined ?” (01/03/02)

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This is R. Buckminster Fuller’s major scientific writing. Fuller was much more that an architect. He was a Leonardo class genius and his creation of a new branch of physics and mathematics will be harvested for a thousand years. If you have never looked at this work, you will be amazed. (01/03/02)

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