pags 6 fathom friday, november 30, 1979
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Bv Barb Richardson ' Agricultural Economics Professor Loyd Fischer agrees not strong enough to institute a strong bfrtl
t's been predicted that by the year 2010 "all pre
sent known sources of fuel will be gone, according to the
Deputy Director of the Nebraska Energy Office.
buck uaioK saia petroleum will still oe a major energy
source in the future, but probably will be used solely for
transportation.
It's not that we're going to run out of oil, it's the type
of oil used will change, Balok said. Because we will need
to change our source of energy. We will need more tech
nology and money, he said.
"Because of the increase in the use of technology, the
cost of fuel will be higher," Balok said. He said he foresees
gasoline costing between $2 and $3 a gallon.
Cost will determine whether the United States con
tinues to rely on other countries until the sources are ex
hausted, he said. '
"If it's cheaper to import oil rather than use advanced
technology, than that's the route the U.S. will take," he
said.
Balok said he expects solar, wind and nuclear powers
and electricity to be important because there will not be
enough petroleum products.
"RESEARCH IS going to improve nuclear energy,"
Balok said. "And I hope that it will not be abandoned as a
source because of the anti-nuclearactivity."
Balok said it takes 12 to 15 years to build a nuclear
power plant. Currently there aren't any plans for plants,
which makes' developing the power source difficult.
Environmentalists still will be significant in energy
policy, but will have to make compromises or prepare to
go back to the 1750s or 1800s, he said.
Tar sands may be the petroleum product answer for
the future, Balok said.
Technology is currently not available to extract the
thick crude petroleum which exists sometimes 12,000 feet
below the earth's surface, according to Balok. He added
that he thinks technology will advance so the petroleum
can be removed.
"It's estimated that in Alberta, Canada there are one
trillion barrels of petroleum in the tar sands," he said.
"Above all, conservation is the best bet for the next 10
to 15 years," Balok said. "People are conserving now to
-the point that their pocketbooks demand."
BALOK SAID he feels high fuel prices are good be
cause they force people to conserve energy. The costs of
technology and scarcity will raise prices, especially food
prices because the high-priced fuel is essential to food pro
duction, he said.
. , - . -
that food will be more expensive oecause oi energy w.
Fischer said the scarcity of fuel and other resources
will cause major changes in food production in the United
States. .
"Our agricultural system has adapted to cheap and
available resources. We rely heavily on machines and
chemicals for the production process. And the problem
with that is that it makes us vulnerable to scarcity of
those materials," Fischer said.
Fischer said the United States has the capability to
feed it's people, providing changes are made.
PEOPLE MUST give up agricultural luxury items, such
as steak and alcohol, he said. The adjustment to no luxury
items probably will come gradually as people realize they
can afford soybeans for protein but not steak, Fischer said.
When people begin to give up luxury foods they prob
ably will notice how much they spend on food, Fischer
said.
"Long before we'd go hungry, we would spend at least
50 percent of our money on food."
Diet adjustments already are taking place today.. For
example, Fischer said many people are beginning to eat
poultry or lesser cuts of beef.
Another needed adjustment is a switch from machine
and chemical-dependent agriculture to a labor-intense pro
duction process similar to mainland China's agricultural
program, he said.
The future scarcity and cost of resources will force the
agricultural process to move to a labor-intense process,
according to Fischer.
"Mainland China has about four times our population
and about 60 percent of our land base but is self
sufficient," Fischer said.
HE ADDED that the Chinese have proved that it is
possible to farm without chemicals, machinery or an
abundance of resources.
Labor-intense farming would not only help produce
food, but would help unemployment in the future,
Fischer said. '.
Fischer said, some farmers already have switched from
machines and chemicals. The method is called organic
farming.
The population of the United States, the Soviet Union,
China, Western Europe and Japan have stabilized, making
it easier to feed those populations, Fischer said. The lesser
developed countries have problems feeding their people
and are further plagued by the highest population growth
rates, he said.
The governments of the lesser developed countries are
not strong enough to institute a strong bfrth control pro-
Some countries such as the United States, actually sub
sidize having children through taxes and insurance pro
grams, Fischer said. He said these programs must be
changed to stabilize the population growth rate.
He said some countries equate power with population,
and some religious beliefs support population growth,
both of which hinder stabilization.
THE LESSER developed countries must gain indepen
dence to feed their population. Food aid programs are not
a way to teed people of other countries, according to .
Fischer. , . .
He said that food aid only depresses the recipients be
cause food becomes so cheap that incentive for native
farmers to sell their food on the market is squelched.
Although Fischer docs not fully support food aid, he
said the United States probably will keep responding to
natural disasters in other countries with food aid.
"In the future "we will still have the capability to" give
aid without denying ourselves food," Fischer said. -.-
Fischer said he thinks that a large part of the United
States' economy will focus on feeding U.S. residents.
Wallace Peterson, UNL economics professor, said the
United States' economy will also depend oh the energy
situation.
Three things may happen to the economy in the
future, according to Peterson. He said the economy may
"muddle along" with high oil prices and inflation, a
worldwide depression could result if a major oil cutoff
takes place or new technology may save the resources and
.help the economy. ;
"THE MOST likely result is that we will keep muddling
along with too much inflation and unemployment," Peter
son said.
Energy will dictate how much of a person's income will
be spent on food, shelter, transportation and medical care,
he said.
Unemployment may not be a long-range 'problem,
according to Peterson. He- said the unemployment rate
will peak soon because of the post-war baby boom. But
after the peak there may be a surplus of jobs. ,
He added that women and young people will continue
to pour into the job market causing unemployment
problems into the 1980s.
Peterson said the United States should decrease de
pendence on foreign oil by letting the price of oil go up. .
A more direct way to curtail oil use would be a direct tax
on oil, he added.
Peterson said that a third possibility is rationing, mak
ing sure everyone gets their share of oil products. ;
Students of 1984 pop
capsulized crib notes
y,
By Mike Sweeney
'lysses Nicholas Listener looked out
the window of the big, gray bus as it rolled
west along Holdrege street toward city
campus.
He had given up driving his car to school
after the price of gasoline soared higher
than the price of tuition. Besides, it was
harder than ever to find space after all
parking lots had been absorbed by the
Ministry of Truth.
The Ministry of Truth. He could see it
out of the left-hand window, a big, black
and white building facing the desolation of
east campus. He tried to remember. Once,
long ago, it had been called by a different
name. But he couldn't recall the time be
fore the Ministry of Truth, or the time be
fore the words "All Campuses are Equal"
had been carved above, the stone entry.
Listener looked at his watch; 9:30 a m
April 4, 1984. ' "
It looked like he would be late to class
for the fifth time this semester. He didn't
mind so much walking into class late. It
was always easy to sneak into the sports
complex basketball arena for his political
science lecture, but he hated missing the
first few minutes of Profspeak.
LISTENER HOPED he rememberd
everything on the learning pills he took
that morning. The pills-small, brightly
colored, sweet-tasting things-contained
complete lessons. Students swallowed them
instead of reading textbooks and discussed
their pilLknowledge at daily-Profspeaks.
The four pills Listener took that morn
ing made liim feel dehydrated. Four pills
for four classes. He took Gowdy speak and
LosienspeaK puis tor his sports history
class. They were easier to swallow now that
97 percent of the irritating ingredients had
been removed.
For his public relations class he took a
Regentspeak pill from a small blue bottle.
Overdoses cause permanent brain damange,
the warning label said.
He took a Spcakspeak pill for his extem
poraneous speech class. The pill contained
Kennedy monologues from the early
1960s.
And he took a Nixonspeak pill for his
political science class. He discovered the
pill was hard to swallow, but tasted better
when taken with a small quantity of
sodium chloride from the student pill
dispensary.
Listener also took supplementary learn
ing pills from the Ministry of Love Library.
Sometimes the learning pills left a bitter
taste in Listener's mouth,, so he didn't
always take them. Sometimes he had to
force himself to cram for a test.
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