Vaclav Smil is a professor at the University of Manitoba who loves to crunch numbers. Just about every statement Smil makes in How the World Really Works is backed up by hard data. For anyone who believes the U.S. or the EU can reverse climate change anytime soon…Smil has the numbers that show that’s not going to happen in this century.
For me, the most important chapter in How the World Really Works is Chapter 3 with Smil’s Four Pillars of Modern Civilization. Smil shows our economy and life-style relies on four elements: cement, steel, plastics, and ammonia. And, all of them promote climate change by producing green house gases.
Smil’s numbers project more cement, steel, plastics, and ammonia in our future. I could see where modern economies would use more cement and steel in our buildings and roads and bridges. I could see where plastics are essential to appliances and cars and planes and medical devices. But…ammonia? Well, without ammonia–and Smil’s numbers show massive amounts–we would starve. Ammonia is an essential substance for farming. Without fertilizers, our farm products would plummet! Smil writes: “Ammonia: The Gas That Feeds the World” (p. 79). I had no idea!
So without non-polluting substitutes for cement, steel, plastics, and ammonia…nothing will change. More carbon dioxide and other green house gases will cloud our skies and ratchet up the heat and pollution. There’s no easy way out of this dilemma. Unless we can find a way to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere–and store it safely–we are literally cooked. How the World Really Works lays it all out with documentation. Decision makers need to read this book and take action now! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Why Do We Need This Book? 1
1 Understanding Energy: Fuels and Electricity 13
2 Understanding Food Production: Eating Fossil Fuels 44
3 Understanding Our Material World: The Four Pillars of Modern Civilization 76
4 Understanding Globalization: Engines, Microchips, and Beyond 103
5 Understanding Risks: From Viruses to Diets to Solar Flares 134
6 Understanding the Environment: The Only Biosphere We Have 168
7 Understanding the Future: Between Apocalypse and Singularity 205
Appendix: Understanding Numbers: Orders of Magnitude 230
References and Notes 235
Acknowledgments 307
Index 309
He’s not the only one who sees a really problematic future for mankind – maybe there are just too many humans and not enough resources?
This reminds me of a bad joke (sorry if I’ve told that before):
Two planets are talking.How do you feel right now?
And the other answers:
Not too good, I have humans.
Answer:
Don’t worry too much – it’ll be over in a few million years or sooner …
Wolf, the Pandemic isn’t over. About 400 Americans are dying every day from Covid-19…but no one is talking about it. The new variant, BA.5, is spreading. I can’t imagine what it’s like in Third World countries where the vaccinate is in short supply!
Well, it will be all over soon enough for our generation, but we have left our grandchildren with the task of finding another habitable planet to live on. Mars doesn’t look great on FOR ALL MANKIND. So onward…
Patti, all those Science Fiction stories from the 1940s and 1950s about space ships transferring thousands of sleeping people to another planet in a far star system look very appealing.
As the late Bill Crider would have said, “We’re doomed! Doomed!”
We won’t be around to see the results of the folly the Powers That Be have imposed on the world, fortunately for us but not for those who follow. It really is becoming a dystopian SF novel come to life, isn’t it?
Jeff, what really surprises me is the number of people who are still denying Climate Change and Global Warming. I can’t believe they disregard the evidence! It’s as plain as day!
I came here to say exactly that! The GOP has assured me that climate change is a liberal/woke/Democratic myth. I mean, it snowed last winter, right? So how can it be getting hotter??
Regarding cement: I’ve read that there are places in the world (India was one of them, iirc) that are literally running out of sand (a key component in cement) because multi-national construction companies and foreign governments have bought up every grain of sand along the coastlines.
Deb, as Smil argues, our modern economy cannot function without cement, steel, plastics, and ammonia. And all of them add to the excess of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Our Government (and the rest of the world) needs to focus on reducing green house gasses NOW! Spain is burning up, 400 people in Europe have died from excess heat (and there was very little A/C in Europe the last time I visited) so far, and we’re just at the beginning of a Long, Hot Summer!
And let us never forget nor forgive our sterling Democrat from Coal in the Upper House.
Todd, yet West Virginia is one of the poorest states. There is no future for coal.
Yes, but Sen. BlackLung knows where his money’s coming from.
If they would just pick up a real newspaper or listen to a real news outlet, they might see things differently. I have never watched FOX but do they even make an attempt to present news. Do they discuss this heatwave in Europe? I bet not.
FNC runs an almost shamefaced newscast that tries, arguably, to be responsible. But FNC loyalists try not to let that shake them.
Patti, there’s a lot of brainwashing going on with FOX NEWS and other conservative media outlets. Conservatives tend to stay in their silos and refuse to consider news from NPR, PBS, or any of the network news shows. And, they despise CNN and MSNBC!
Plastics, at least, causes less CO2 to be released than burning the petroleum products.
Todd, plastics pollute less, but there’s still CO2 involved.
Or plastics creation, as I meant to type on this annoying keyboard.