Not really sure about the mechanism they are using to calculate their budget.
I can tell you for sure that somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the world's protein comes from fishing:
Large scale commercial fishing is one of the most wasteful activities on the planet, and there is abundant evidence that the majority of fish stocks have collapsed or are in the process of collapsing. - Case study: The collapse of the Newfoundland cod stocks.
Most experts believe that world oil production peaked somewhere between 2000 and 2005, and that Texas peaked in the 70's, North Sea peaked in the 90's and though data are not released, the Middle East and Siberian Basin have probably peaked too.
I have it on decent (an academic who works as a consultant for the oil industry) authority that in the 70's, the Saudi's tried turning their flow rate up to maximum, just to see what rate they could theoretically extract at: They got a trickle.
Peaking means that in well explored regions we have the most difficult, economically marginal, often inferior quality (heavy) hydrocarbons left to extract.
In regions without mature exploration history (eg. west coast of africa/barents sea/south china sea/east coast of south america, there are different problems in addition.
The oil is easy and good in Angola and Nigeria, but the countries are dangerous politically. The conditions in the Barents Sea are harsh, and the hydrocarbons there are mostly the less useful gas. South China sea contains vast amounts of CO2, and off South America the plays are very deep and difficult to drill.
We probably have around 300 years of coal left, but coal is dirty. Nuclear power is the future, but that too is a finite resource (until Fusion is perfected, still a pipe dream currently). GM Biofuels are very promising, and help with CO2 drawdown, but have to compete with food crops to feed a population that is expanding unsustainably fast.
Loss of hydrocarbons also affects our ability to produce plastics.
Other resources are not necessarily under such threat, I.E metals and minerals. (This is my specific area).
These depend strongly upon supply and demand. If demand is strong enough, the concrete outside your doors could be mined for the parts per trillion levels of gold it contains, but it is energetically very unfavourable to extract, and would take a vast amount of energy resources to produce.
More crucially, Rare Earth Elements and Space Age High Tech metals are rare, and very difficult to find. Case Study - Tantalum: Tantalum is used in tiny efficient capacitors for the electronics industry. The mobile phone boom wastes this every year, and there are only about 3 places in the world it can currently be mined.
Case study: Indium. This is a key component used in flat screens and touch screens. It is also crucial for the production of solar panels. China controls the only supply of it in the world, and are reducing export quotas dramatically in order to prepare for their own future.
Things you take for granted like water will be under threat over the next 100 years as we suffer from higher temperatures due to climate change and ridiculous levels of overpopulation. Water is effectively 'mined'. It is not an infinite resource, parts of california have subsided over 30 feet over 30 years from the amounts of water they have 'mined'. Fertilisers require phosphate. Phosphate is not a common mineral. Industrial scale agriculture (whether for food or biofuels) requires fertilisers and water. This is NOT A PRETTY PICTURE PEOPLE.
Climate change is happening people. Don't believe the bullshit columnists feed you trying to knock the argument apart. Its hard to come to terms with, but I've seen the data. Send me a pm if you want it. I am a Ph.D student at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. I get exposed to this stuff because of the research that is done there. I am a geologist who specialises in Natural Resources, and works principally with the mining industry.
What can you do?
Here's some simple things to be aware of:
Stop wasting water. Take showers, not baths, don't leave the taps running etc.
Try and buy British produce. Specifically vegetables and fruit which are often imported at great fuel cost from around the globe. If you can, buy organic, as they may not have had as much wasted fertiliser used on them. Don't buy products with excessive packaging, particularly in the supermarket.
Drive as little as possible. - I have only filled up my car 4 times since last October. It'll probably only be 5 times all year.
Stop wasting electronic components - You do not need that new goddamn iphone. I'll bet THN is TERRIBLE for this. I have had the same phone since 2002.
Recycle as much as you can, sadly the UK is not particularly helpful about this.
Stop wasting electricity. Turn off your appliances at night.
Just don't buy into the wasteful western lifestyle that is pushed on us. I'm not saying we need to turn into afghanistan or anything, just don't get new stuff just because you can. You'll be surprised how much you save too.
