The comparison of whale oil use decline with today’s projected petroleum oil demand reductions, in Michael Haigh’s guest column, neglects to factor in the devastating effects and subsequent costs of unabated burning of hydrocarbons (“Whale oil’s slow decline carries lessons for today”, Markets Insight, December 12).
Continuing the convenient use of whale oil to keep the parlour lamps lit reduced whale populations and perhaps altered ocean ecology. A bad outcome, but nothing like the catastrophes to come with another 50 years of burning.
In that timeframe, the already frequently flooded city of Jakarta (the most populous settlement on the planet) must be either elevated or relocated.
Where is that cost factored into this economic prediction?
Thomas Paino
Hudson (a former whale oil capital), NY, US