It may not SEEM like a disaster, and most people haven't heard anything about this at all, but the (currently-known) largest deposit of Helium in the world - near Amarillo, Texas in the USA - will be depleted within the next 8-9 years at current consumption rates!
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"Helium Supplies Endangered....""Big Deal! Go mine more!" says you.
Um, not only is that deposit in Texas the largest, it's one third of ALL the known helium on the planet! (There may be more in Russia, but they've not bothered to go looking for it there yet. Smart move, esp. if they wait until it starts running out eslewhere.... $$$$ )
"Manufacturing" the stuff is a joke, because it is made one of two ways: 1) essentially a continuous atomic hydrogen explosion, from which helium is a by-product, or 2) find a place to decay radioactive isotopes for a few millennia....
#1 is actually happening all the time: In our sun. (Heh. Wanna be on THAT helium-mining crew?!?
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But hey! What's just ONE MORE thing to worry about, eh?!?