If there is only enough oil in the world to only last 20 years or so why worry about global warming?

Question

My point is why not just burn through the oil and let the planet work out the problem when we run out.

Answer 1

There's a LOT more oil than that around--more like enough to last 200 years.  That 20 year estimate refers only to "pool" oil--the kind that you can simply pump out of a well.  But other types of oil--oil sand and shale oil--are available, though it's more expensive to extract the oil (which is why they've never been tapped in abig way until recently).  And those other sources are actually MOST of the oil--pool oil even a century ago was just a small part of the total.

Answer 2

hahahah i agree!

Answer 3

What makes you think that ? 40 years ago it was al going to be gone by 2000. There are centuries of supply left.

Answer 4

1.  There is enough coal to last more than a century.

2.  We're worried that the permafrost will melt within 20 years.  The permafrost holds a bunch of trapped greenhouse gases.  When that is released, the climate change will accelerate, and be irreversible.

Answer 5

i don't know

but if you care about the environment then visit my question

click on my avatar then click on my recent questions and click on  HELP THE ENVIRONMENT!!!!!

Answer 6

The whole global warming panic is all about getting funds in the name of research. IOW they're bilking the government.

Answer 7

Who told you there is only 20 years worth of oil left?  This is simply not so.  There is more oil that we are likely to use in several lifet\imes.

Answer 8

The "20 years" number means only at current prices.  When the price goes up, more oil will be available.  At $150 a gallon, there is LOTS of oil.

Answer 9

if we do that ,then 20 years from now many coastal cityes will be under water...

Answer 10

Sorry but the earth has a neutral built in recycle system called plants. The plants takes in the CO2 and gives us back the oxygen. The plant keeps the C in its leaves the leaves fall off and wash down the river to the delta where it deteriorates into Gas ,Oil, and the oil will turn to coal after a long time.We should never run out of fossil fuels.

Answer 11

There's a lot more oil left.  Known reserves will last about 30 years then there's reserves that we haven't yet tapped into.  Admittedly these are getting fewer and farther between but it's likely there's another 20 or so years worth of supplies still to be tapped.

On top of that there's vast quantities of oil mixed with sand and rock (called tar sand or oil sand)  which we've so far ignored because it's harder to extract.  There's more of this stuff under Canada alone than there is oil in the whole of the Middle East. There's probably another 50 years worth of oil that can be extracted this way.

In total then we're looking at 100 years or more before the oil runs out - it might be more expensive but the $9 for a gallon of gas in the UK haven't reduced demand.

There are even larger reserves of coal and gas.  In short we can continue as we are for at least 100 years.

But... we need to consider the 'tipping point'.  This is the point at which the damage caused to the planet becomes, for all intents and purposes, irrepairable.  No one knows for sure how close we are to the tipping point, some think we're very close whereas others think it's a long way off, the 'average opinion' would put it at 20 something years.