Because we’re wasting it on party balloons. It really is a critical strategic resource; it’s nuts to be selling off the reserve. It’s vital for a lot of rocketry.
But here’s my question, that a quick search doesn’t answer. With the increase in natural gas production from fracking, are they capturing the helium along with it? Does this solve the problem? Or is the artificially low prices making it not worthwhile to do so? The other question is, are there places where it’s easy to mine in the solar system? For instance, how practical would it be to skim Saturn’s atmosphere for it?
What if they aren’t really “fossil” fuels? I’m skeptical on this, but maintain an open mind. If Gold is right, it’s a huge game changer, not just technologically, but politically. Of course, it will just send the carbon loons further around the bend.
So, apparently, I’m not skeptical about the need to wreck our economy to save the planet because many of the scientists promoting it have been shown to be frauds and hacks. No, it’s because I’m a threatened, “conservative white male.”
What would I do without professors of sociology to explain such things to me? I particularly love the “98% of scientists” line. Because, you know, science is all about majority opinion (and no, even if it was, I don’t buy the number).
There seems like a big market opportunity here. Put people to work by fishing, and sell the proceeds to China. You could do it canned, frozen and fresh. I know that when I was a kid growing up in Michigan we’d never eat carp, and considered them junk fish, though the blacks would eat them (and dogfish, too — I remember dogfish runs by the dam near our cottage on the Muskegon River, where people would just pull them out with nets and cover the banks with them). Not sure what the difference is between Asian carp and the native variety, or if it’s tastier. But the Asians definitely do know their carp (which is what koi and goldfish are).
