I Don't Think We'll Ever Run Out

<p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> "The stone age did not end because the world ran out of stones."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> -Royal Dutch/Shell employee Don Huberts, 1999</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">  </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">I was arguing with a man today who told me that maybe we'd run out of oil if we don't defy the environmentalists and build nuclear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> To be honest, I'm skeptical.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I don't think you CAN run out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> I don't think that's how raw materials work.</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">  </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">He said, "But it doesn't hurt to have a plan B"</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">  </p> <ol style= "direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;" type="1"> <li style= "margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;" value= "1"><span style= "font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;"> Could it take a million years?</span></li> <li style= "margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; vertical-align: middle;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">How many tons of, say, oil and gas are created within the Earth each year?</span></li> </ol> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">  </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> But let's think about his "doesn't hurt to have a plan B"</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">  </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> What if some Earl back in 1100 had said, "What if the sun burns out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </s