I am slow of mind at times - well, in fact, quite often. While staring at the side issues, though important issues, of GMO seeds and corporations taking over America, wars being fought where we aren't being threatened, and the like, the obvious has escaped me.
What will the world look like when we run out of fuel? This is going to happen - at some level. I believe there will be fuel available for a couple of hundred years but after the next 30 or so years, it won't be available to the public. No, the reality is that the quantity of oil we can pump from this planet is very limited. The other reality is that the population is booming. These two lines can be graphed and their intersection, I believe, is approximately 30-40 years away. When the governments of the world can no longer hide the fact that we are running out of oil (and they are hiding it) it will be too late for the people of the world to do anything about it - except suffer.
The governments will keep what ever oil is still available to fuel their military and to continue to provide a basic infrastructure for the people, but there will be no jumping in the car and driving to work, the grocery store, or anywhere for that matter. Our lives are based on petroleum and when that is no longer available to exploit, life as we know it will end. In fact, it may very well mean the real end of life for millions as food shortages and poverty sweep across the world, and in their wake riots and mayhem follow. Think that's far-fetched? Just look at the loons rioting over the recent Boston hockey win in Vancouver, Canada. Oh yeah, losing a hockey game is worth rioting for isn't it - not! But what will these people do when the realize they can't afford to put gas in their cars - long before the gas has actually run out?
Many who read this will say, Oh no, the government won't let this happen. I'm telling you they are letting it happen right now! Think about it - there has to be a finite amount of oil in the ground. If the earth were a hollow ball, that is the maximum amount that could be contained! But it isn't a hollow ball and peak oil has already happened in many places - including the United States. People are just refusing to acknowledge it. They are living in a dream! This is the dream that says, things will always get better, there will always be more, it will go on like this forever.
I am advocating that people start to think about how the world is going to look when a world that is set up to run on oil no longer has oil in its tanks. This isn't as simple as saying well, we'll have solar by then, or we'll have hydro by then, or we'll have something else by then. Our entire distribution system is set up for gasoline or diesel. Everything that is manufactured in this country - yea, in the world, requires petroleum in some form. When that is gone, the products we are used to, the lifestyles we are used to, will not be available to us any longer. That means just about everything we use today will be affected, because oil and yes, coal (limited as well) powers all the manufacturing.
The solution to this is going to take many minds working together to reinvent society. The time to start is now.
Wally Roderick
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