Oil is one of the biggest commodities next to food. Not only for fuel of all kinds, but hundreds if not thousands of “petrochemicals,” plastics, etc. How can we get away from a dependence on crude oil? Are there sufficient alternatives that could eliminate the need to exploit crude oil at all? And if there are, why are they being resisted?

Here again, you make the case for an unlimited resource but then decry its exploitation and potential disappearance. We see that the same middle course is to be frugal and to provide for potential quite long-term future, that may well not be required, but the current utilization and planning is not based on knowing reality, so the rule of the day is to live for the moment and not worry about the long-term. We would never recommend throwing caution to the wind, so there is a place to be mindful of the cost in changes to the environment from the way energy is obtained and that is an additional issue that is an overlay to the question of the economics of fuel production per se and the tradeoffs with regard to pollution. The issues do go deeper but pollution is not trivial, there are many long-term health considerations here as well. That is rarely talked about but is, in fact, a major consideration that humans are not perceiving and will be suffering from in the future with the way things are being done today and the reckless overuse of fossil fuels. They are precious commodities for many reasons and need to be shepherded with care and with a proper view of all the pros and cons associated with their use and preservation, both. This is a problem for humans to work out to safeguard their future and the current health and well-being also. It is a balancing act, as is often the case, of current need versus future stability and safety, and a long-term freedom from want and also from the adverse consequences of dangerous use of energies and chemical waste byproducts that can be a harm to the environment and affect people adversely. There are always karmic consequences to every undertaking by well-meaning individuals wanting to help on the energy front but possibly complicating things and even creating anomalous outcomes because they cannot always be predicted. There is much to do here to optimize and balance the way the world runs, and with transportation being a number one requirement for commerce, there are many important decisions needing to be made about how to bring this forward and make a more permanent and more efficient solution and put it into place. The race is on and the first who will be able to do this and have enough reserves to provide the starter fuel for refining will dominate by virtue of controlling the energy that makes everything go, so the challenge is at hand, and we are happy to support all that unfolds here, and this will be true of all the players who are on the side of humanity.