Squandering Natural Resources Has Consequences

Comment to Meet the Press on Facebook:

The same rock formations that hold natural gas and oil also trap helium. Unlike fossil fuels, there are NO substitutes for helium. When the reserves are gone, we will have to do without. This will impact our modern economy in ways that most people are completely unaware of. (I read that NASA uses large quantities of helium, but makes no effort to recycle it.)

Rapid depletion of oil and natural gas reserves, through fracking, not only pollutes groundwater and makes transition to alternatives more difficult, it also destroys the geologic formations that have held the gas for so long. Why is there no public discussion about whether and by how much we should slow down our depletion of these limited resources, for the sake of future generations? A rational policy would assess fees to industry when they extract resources and put pollution. Fees attached to extraction of natural gas should be higher for those fields that have higher helium content.

All fee proceeds should be shared equally among all people.

I really would like to know, why are these issues and ideas not discussed by the news media? Squandering natural resources has consequences. Future generations (along with younger members of today's society) will suffer as our fossil fuel-based civilization collapses. Or we avert the collapse by developing a respect of PUBLIC property rights and by accounting for economic externalities.

We can solve the major problems facing our civilization. We will have to talk about the systemic flaws underlying those problems. Are we willing to engage in a public discourse about systemic flaws and their solution?

Equal sharing of natural wealth makes the world's biggest problems MUCH smaller:
http://gaiabrain.blogspot.com