Should we develop alternative fuels?

Until someone convinces me otherwise, I'm going to go with "no" -- at least if by "fuels" you mean carbon compounds that are used to release energy through combustion. Combustion of carbon compounds produces carbon dioxide, which aggravates global warming. If we're running out of oil, let's just run out, start driving less, flying less, doing less of things that produce greenhouse gases, and doing the remainder more efficiently. Or else let's find replacements that don't involve "fuels" in the sense I described: try electric cars that run on power from wind, solar power, hydroelectric power, nuclear power, etc..

From an environmental point of view, running out of oil is a good thing, an opportunity to slow down climate change, and are we now to try replacing that oil with other combustibles? When opportunity knocks, close the curtain and pretend you're not home?

If the government is going to subsidize anything, let it subsidize alternative sources and uses of electric power, or solar heating, or something like that. Why subsidize products that are going to aggravate our environmental problems?

Pigou and the Anthropophagi

Why does the salmon here cost more than the chicken? There ought to be a tax on chicken.

Why?

On chicken and meat and eggs and dairy products.

Why?

Because farm animals are bad for the environment.

How?

They contribute to global warming.

How?

They produce methane, which gets in the atmosphere and adds to the greenhouse effect.

People produce methane, too, you know.

That's why I think there should be a tax on people also. Cannibals need more vegetables in their diet anyhow.