In my Grey Matter

The Republicans, the oil industry, and SUV owners everywhere scored a major victory the other day when the Senate voted to open the Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling. Mind you, congress still needs to approve the budget, but this is a major step. I know this is a case of a short-term solution, and people being blind to the long-term implications, but do these people not see that we need to come up with real alternatives to oil, not mine the last reserves in ecologically sensitive areas out of some desperation to keep gas prices down so we can continue to drive our monster SUVs that measure mileage in terms of gallons to the mile, and not vice versa.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who thinks that we're headed for a major collapse very quickly. I know I'm not the only one, but I feel like I'm the only one who is not a tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, non-hair washing, granola-eating, environmental, save-the-spotted-oil person. Recently, I have heard a few different reports saying that the world can conceivably run out of oil in my lifetime. One report says that've we've peaked now and if we keep up the current pace, we can expect to run out in 40 years. Others predict that we'll run out of oil by 2070. Either way, we're not talking about keeping the planet in good condition for our grandchildren, as the African proverb dictates, but keeping the planet in good condition for ourselves.

On the other side of the fence, these reports are pooh-poohed as doomsday scenarios - it will never happen. Alternative sources will be developed, and then they point out that we already have a hybrid car. What they don't consider is the following: it would take several years to develop alternative sources so that they're truly viable and affordable. If we don't bother doing so until there are severe oil shortages, it would create huge global instability. The time for developing these alternatives is now - not when the price of gas is $7 a gallon and the price of food and home heating is out of reach of most middle-class families. Another thing that isn't considered is that the economies of India and China are rapidly growing. Most people in both countries do not own cars....but what happens when they want to own cars?

Click on link to see image that illustrates my point. After that, click on "Park This" on the right hand side.
http://www.howies.co.uk/think.php?id=15&category=cars

I think people believe that oil won't run out in their lifetime so it's not their problem, which is entirely selfish in itself - what about their children, neices, nephews, grandchildren? However, I also think that people believe that if and when the world runs out of oil, it will be a hard stop. They'll keep living the way they're accustomed to with cheap gas, cheap flights, efficient home heating, plentiful food, and then one day there will be no more oil, but they won't be around for that, because it won't happen in their lifetime. In reality though, there will first be an increase in gas prices, then an increase in prices for food, heating, public transportation. We'll complain, we'll demand that our government DO something, we'll go on news segments of CITY-TV and say that if this keeps up, we'll have to trade in our SUV for something more economical. We'll support the US government when they invade Iraq for sitting on top of our oil. Oh wait....

But after that, we'll have severe shortages. I don't think people realise just how dependent we are, and I'm not talking about our right to take Hayley and Cody to soccer practice in a four-tonne bohemouth instead of insisting they ride their bikes there. Many communities in North America don't even have sidewalks anymore. Public transportation has been hit by cutbacks in my municipal governments. Some communities don't even have public transportation at all. We're dependent on oil (or natural gas) for home heating, food production - how else do you think those farmers drive the tractors, and manufacturing. Most plastics are made with oil. Its safe to say that our entire way of living as we know it revolves around the black stuff. Still, it floors me when someone says to me with a straight face: "I don't feel guilty about driving my SUV. I pay more in gas so I'm therefore paying higher taxes." Uhhh, what about the term non-renewable resource. Grade 4 geography class? Ring any bells? Or "I'm a Republican, but a good one - I'm just fiscally Republican, I don't approve of the far right agenda in terms of social issues. Yes I voted for Bush, but not because of the social issues." If you voted for Bush, you voted for the senator in South Carolina who thinks gay teachers should be banned from teaching, and the senator in Oklahoma who believes in the death penalty for abortion doctors, and yes if you voted for Bush, you voted for big oil and the destruction of the environment. You knew it was on the agenda, and you knew that he would pay his cronies back in his second term of office. Often in politics, voting is more about choosing the lesser of two evils than anything else, and I'm not saying that the world would be a much more different place if Kerry was president, but at least there would be a chance of it with him.

Just so you don't think that I've pulled my "doomsday scenario" out of thin air, I've included some links below. You'll notice that three of the four are from mainstream news sources. Like with fashion trends, once it hits the mainstream, it's history.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/10/02/global.warming/
http://www.energybulletin.net/4835.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3623549.stm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17039-2004Jun4.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/opinion/25deffeyes.html?th&emc=th