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Energy Dependency And Exponential Population Growth

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The 21st century, when calculated in terms of Earth’s lifetime, amounts to approximately a quarter of a second. Our sun is estimated to have existed for four billion years and calculations suggest it will exist for another six billion years. With more than half of Earth’s life remaining, somehow humanity has managed to create an unprecedented spike in climate change in this tiny sliver of the earth’s lifetime, by human induced alterations occupying less than a millionth of the elapsed time on Earth. The accelerating rate at which our planet’s finite resources are being depleted is in essence due to our energy dependency and exponential population growth. The exploitation of energy brought by the industrial revolution, and the exponential …show more content…

Algae were able to survive in extreme heat and upon death it sank to the bottom of the seas. Sediments from rivers were transported into seas, through fluvial processes, burying the organic remains of algae. The pressure growth contributed to heat growth, until such time when a chemical reaction converted the organics into hydrocarbon fossil fuels, oil, and natural gas. It took nature approximately five million years to create the amount of fossil fuels that are consumed in one year. The industrial revolution gave birth to a period when humanity exploited Earth’s non-renewable resources to the detriment of the planet. By extracting and harnessing the fossil fuels trapped deep within the earth, the amount of energy generated allowed societies to grow remarkably. The following years produced a global economy that would be so fossil fuel dependent that virtually everything in a modern industrialized society would require energy from fossil fuels for power. Since then, we have been using this method of energy to power our factories, run our cars, and light our streets. Many modern cities have an infrastructure in which roads are made from asphalt, a petroleum product. More so, the construction of many modern cities suggests that they were built on the assumption of plentiful oil and energy. Residential areas are constructed at a distance from commercial areas, pushing people to drive. Large geographical areas would not be inhabitable without heating in the winter and

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