This article references a study that cites the expected peak production in the next couple decades of many commonly used resources including copper, lithium, zinc and uranium. The conclusion seems to be that society needs to move to a much more efficient and circular economy to avoid the collapse of civilization. I’ve heard the term ‘peak oil’ used in the past as an example of a resource that we thought would run out long ago but it hasn’t due to a number of innovations. So I’m a bit skeptical of the prediction but curious who else might be doing research in this area and what everyone’s thoughts are as to the seriousness of this topic.
EA Research Around Mineral Resource Exhaustion
This article references a study that cites the expected peak production in the next couple decades of many commonly used resources including copper, lithium, zinc and uranium. The conclusion seems to be that society needs to move to a much more efficient and circular economy to avoid the collapse of civilization. I’ve heard the term ‘peak oil’ used in the past as an example of a resource that we thought would run out long ago but it hasn’t due to a number of innovations. So I’m a bit skeptical of the prediction but curious who else might be doing research in this area and what everyone’s thoughts are as to the seriousness of this topic.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jun/04/mineral-resource-fossil-fuel-depletion-terraform-earth-collapse-civilisation