adapt itself to both liberal and planned economies. How will we find the means, on an international basis, to manage these energy generators, each of which will correspond to several present-day nuclear power plants? How are we to distribute the energy? How will we adapt it to demand? Philosophical: What are the "reasonable” limits to the present generation’s right to withdraw resources from the earth (fossil and nuclear) and from the sun? To sum up this introduction to the subject that will take up your attention for the next three days, I wish to remind you of two numbers that should remain constantly present in our minds: (a) The upper atmosphere CO2 content increases regularly and rapidly (Fig. 3). The facts that attribute the increase to human activity are based on the slackening off noted on the curve between 1940-1945. A hasty conclusion, perhaps, but one that in no way dispenses us from following this evolution and measuring its results. A very brief examination shows that the "glasshouse effect” provoked by CO2 tends to become greater and, as a result, so does the average earth temperature; but this factor would be offset, at least partially, by the greater amount of dust in the upper atmosphere: this would increase the atmosphere’s albedo thereby decreasing the quantity of solar energy to arrive on Earth. (b) The energy man presently controls has reached a level that can no longer be considered negligible with respect to the planet’s ecology: this portion is between 10 4 and 10 5 of the solar energy received on Earth. Most of this energy is of fossil origin; the portion that is of nuclear origin will inescapably increase during the coming years. Now, a magnitude that reaches a scale of 104 and 10-5 of the magnitude in question is no longer a “background noise.” The consequences of this supplementary energy supply from the earth’s depths, apart from the natural geothermal flux which is too weak in comparison with the other energies involved, can modify the planet’s biological equilibrium (along what exact lines, 1 do not know!) all the more so as these supplies are extremely localized. To finish nonetheless on a reassuring note, I wish to underline the fact that the Earth, ever since its creation 4 or 5 billion years ago has never been stabilized; its equilibrium, if this word has any real meaning, is a dynamic one, and whatever puristical ecologists may think, the deliberate stabilizing of the Earth in its actual state is also a form of pollution.
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