NATURAL RESOURCES: Will We Have Enough for Tomorrow's World?

Each chapter examines a particular resource and in each case the answer to the title question will we have enough oil, metal, wood, etc. -- is an optimistic yes. Underground nuclear explosions can release vast quantities of oil and natural gas (much of the oil chapter is an apology for offshore drilling); new developments ensure that we won't run out of coal in the 20th century (and land wrecked by strip mining can be reclaimed); when other fuels run short we'll have breeder reactors and fusion for nuclear power; the sea is rich in needed minerals; wood is fortunately renewable; there's lots more water where our present supply came from (and reclaiming and desalinating need only be made cheap enough for industrial use); and soil can be made more productive by the use of chemical fertilizers. Millard has toned down his promotional enthusiasm since his How will We Meet the Energy Crisis? (1971, p. 1027, J-375) but the thrust and conclusions are the same. Environmentalists' reservations about his ""new developments"" are glossed over, there is no acknowledgment that the supply of many of the resources is finite after all, and in the water chapter the problem of pollution is virtually ignored. Of course, ""there are many technical problems yet to be solved"" in all of the areas surveyed, but ""atomic experts"" and other authorities are confident. What, me worry?