I thought I’d kick this off with a good find via the people at the GOOD magazine website (see original post). They’ve found and posted a graphic that illustrates how, at current rates of consumption, many of the world’s raw materials have reserves that will only last us anywhere from one decade to several.

I’ve read a good bit about peak oil, the idea that world petroleum production has peaked, will be followed by a decline as new reserves become increasingly rare and extraction becomes increasingly expensive. While the graphic below definitely ignores the fact that as raw materials are used up, they become more expensive to extract, it certainly makes the point that we are using all resources, not just oil, at an alarming rate. Reserves of uranium, lead and nickel run dry within the next century (or following the peak oil logic, become prohibitively expensive to extract well before then), yet technological solutions like nuclear power and electric vehicles are being promoted as potential solutions to global warming. I guess consuming less isn’t even on the table… yet.

Image Credit: Gizmodo - Click for Original