Rune wrote:Science will probably come up with some carbon nanotube filtration system or something. Or genetically engineered algae or other organisms will sequester phosphorus out of waste streams for us. Something like that will happen.
Technology never stands still.
Besides, that 300 - 400 year phosphorus supply is not a static number, the report said. That's just what we know about at present.
You can also get it out of deep seawater - if you have a whole lot of cheap, cheap energy. But it will probably never have to come to that.
At any rate, I'm not losing any sleep over it.
The key phrase is "will probably." But given an ave. ecological footprint that's already higher than bio-capacity, the threat of peak oil (and even oil is needed to manufacture goods needed for other sources of energy), the effects of ecological damage and even climate change (which may affect resource availability and production), increasing population, and increasing demand per capita, then whatever technofixes we argue "will probably" take place should have taken place some time ago.
That is why the argument that the "idea of 'peak oil'" has been "buried" is far removed from the truth.