If the U.S. low on non-renewable natural resources (NNR)?
Writing in the Oil Drum, Chris Clugston makes the case that our supply of "non-renewable natural resources" (NNR) are increasingly scarce, posing a huge risk to the 1-billion plus people around the world living high on the industrial lifestyle. It sounds intuitive enough: there is only so much Earth and only so many extractable resources. The situation in the U.S. looks particularly grim:
'A US NNR Scarcity Analysis was conducted to assess the incidence of NNR scarcity associated with fifty eight (58) NNRs in the United States.17 The salient findings:* Annual US production levels associated with 50 of the 58 analyzed NNRs have reached their geological US peak production levels;
* Twenty five (25) of the 58 analyzed NNRs are no longer being produced in the US at all;
* The US currently imports some quantity of 46 of the 58 analyzed NNRs; and
* For 18 of the 58 analyzed NNRs, the US imports 100% of its current annual utilization level.
America has been able to supplement its continuously decreasing domestic NNR production levelsâ??thereby forestalling fatal NNR supply shortfallsâ??by:
* Importing ever-increasing quantities of NNRs from foreign nations;
* Outsourcing US manufacturing operations to foreign offshore locations, thereby utilizing foreign NNRs; and
* Becoming a net importer of foreign goods and services, thereby utilizing foreign NNRs throughout the product/service production and provisioning processes.
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Clugston also notes:
'The salient findings associated with the assessment: 50 of the 57 analyzed NNRs (88%) experienced global scarcity during the 2000-2008 period; 23 of the 26 analyzed NNRs (88%) will likely experience permanent global supply shortfalls by the year 2030.
At the end of the day, we are not about to â??run outâ? of any NNR; we are about to run â??critically shortâ? of many. This reality will have a devastating impact on our industrial lifestyle paradigm.
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If that is indeed the case, it would also put huge strains on our foreign policy, particularly with the one nation that's been aggressively shoring up its access to raw materials. But that's not to say everything is peachy in China either. Elizabeth Economy notes that China is enduring a major drought right now:
'While China often confronts serious seasonal droughtsâ??last year northern China experienced the worst winter drought in 50 years, costing the region 50 percent of its agricultural outputâ??this yearâ??s drought has hit even the typically water-rich southern provinces. According to one report, 600 rivers in southern China have simply dried up.'
(AP Photo)