Living Without Fossil Fuels: A New Reality

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The sudden disappearance of fossil fuels would drastically alter life globally, leading to immediate and severe consequences. Key industries, including chemical manufacturing, energy production, agriculture, and transportation, rely heavily on fossil fuels. Without them, there would be widespread electricity outages, loss of transportation, and a collapse of food distribution systems, potentially resulting in riots due to food scarcity. The current global population, supported by modern agriculture, far exceeds the carrying capacity of a hunter-gatherer society. The challenge of finding and implementing alternative energy sources would be significant, complicating any transition away from fossil fuels.
WingZero
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how would our life be different if all fossil fuels suddenly disappeared ?
 
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Very, if it happens suddenly and we have no time to prepare replacements. Our chemical industries are currently almost entirely dependent on crude oil feedstocks, and as for our energy industry...

That would mean no electricity in most of the world, no cars, no plastics, no medicine, no computers, no PF...
 
Even a gradual disappearance would be (is going to be?) very nasty.

Njorl
 
How about this little gem...
The machinery supporting modern agriculture is run on fossil fuels (not only planting/harvesting, but distribution). Imagine the worldwide riots if there was suddenly no food to be found anywhere. I once heard it said that the world's carrying capacity of a hunter-gatherer civilization is a few 10s of millions of people. Modern agriculture has us supported up to the current 6 billion people.

As FZ+ noted, the ability to find and implement a replacement is key. As Njorl noted, that would not be an easy task.
 

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