[WalterBright]

The extinction of animals caused by humans has been ongoing and increasing since the stone age. There's no way that not having petroleum would have stopped it.

> this planet has finite resources

No matter is being destroyed or is escaping the planet, aside from a solar system probe now and then. Energy can repurpose and reconfigure existing resources.

[voldacar]

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that this planet has finite entropy

[mhh__]

Helium is a counterexample to that notion even if it is vaguely true for most other things.

[jjk166]

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, and no industrial process we have destroys it. If released into the atmosphere it will escape into space, but it still exists. Right now we have no reason to venture out into space to acquire helium because we still have vast reserves here, but if we had sufficient demand to justify the expense then we could.

When you hear about a helium shortage, that's not a shortage of Helium on Earth, that's a shortage of Helium in the strategic helium reserve, which has been a source of extremely cheap helium for decades and made helium extraction uneconomical. When the reserve eventually runs out, and the price of helium subsequently increases, helium extraction will resume.

[WalterBright]

Naturally occurring helium is the result of nuclear processes. Those can be done artificially.