The End of Oil
Think about it.
No, really think about it.
For the cars, less and less. You won't be able to get around so easily any more. So you start to take the bus. Or the train. Or you just walk- get some new shoes, some nice cushy kicks that put that bounce in your freshly new-shoed step.
You stop by the KwikEMart- they're low on Twinkies. The delivery guy couldn't show up. In fact, they're low on stock on just about everything- those truckers just can't get here fast enough. They're fighting at the pumps. But it doesn't really matter... Twinkie production has taken a nose-dive since the decline, they can't produce enough with the low energy resources.
But Twinkies aren't all. They can't even package them- not enough polymers to make the celophane wrappers. No more plastics. If you're homeless, broke, unemployed (Thank God for Social Security... when you get it... if you get it...) you can dig around in trash cans and steal what plastic remains. Hell, take the bag. Dump that trash on the street. It's more valuable to keep the sheets of plastic than anything. You consider trudging through the dump, digging with your fingers if you need to. A nickle a pound, but it doesn't take that long where the garbage has accumulated.
No, really. I'm serious... what do you think we're going to do?
Do you think, somehow, that the End of Oil will be reasonable, easy, managable? Do you think it will be a growing pain, a kind of millenial headache that we'll work through without trouble?
The problem with oil is that it is intensely finite. That everything we do depends on it now. One third of oil products go to plastics; look around you. What are you going to do when that bologna wrapper just simply does not exist anymore? Of course, it'll be around. They'll always find more pockets of oil, more ANWRs to dig in. But it won't get cheaper. Imagine how expensive it will get.
What fears me most about this problem is not simply that it will happen, but rather, that it will happen dreadfully soon. The Guardian is pessimistic, and frighteningly so. But nobody really knows when it's coming. And nobody really knows what it'll do when it runs out.
Fantastic.
But, hey. I feel reassured. The Prez's got our back. Conservation. Jesus. Is there still time...?
-----
UPDATE:
Here's an interesting solution.
No, really think about it.
For the cars, less and less. You won't be able to get around so easily any more. So you start to take the bus. Or the train. Or you just walk- get some new shoes, some nice cushy kicks that put that bounce in your freshly new-shoed step.
You stop by the KwikEMart- they're low on Twinkies. The delivery guy couldn't show up. In fact, they're low on stock on just about everything- those truckers just can't get here fast enough. They're fighting at the pumps. But it doesn't really matter... Twinkie production has taken a nose-dive since the decline, they can't produce enough with the low energy resources.
But Twinkies aren't all. They can't even package them- not enough polymers to make the celophane wrappers. No more plastics. If you're homeless, broke, unemployed (Thank God for Social Security... when you get it... if you get it...) you can dig around in trash cans and steal what plastic remains. Hell, take the bag. Dump that trash on the street. It's more valuable to keep the sheets of plastic than anything. You consider trudging through the dump, digging with your fingers if you need to. A nickle a pound, but it doesn't take that long where the garbage has accumulated.
No, really. I'm serious... what do you think we're going to do?
Do you think, somehow, that the End of Oil will be reasonable, easy, managable? Do you think it will be a growing pain, a kind of millenial headache that we'll work through without trouble?
The problem with oil is that it is intensely finite. That everything we do depends on it now. One third of oil products go to plastics; look around you. What are you going to do when that bologna wrapper just simply does not exist anymore? Of course, it'll be around. They'll always find more pockets of oil, more ANWRs to dig in. But it won't get cheaper. Imagine how expensive it will get.
What fears me most about this problem is not simply that it will happen, but rather, that it will happen dreadfully soon. The Guardian is pessimistic, and frighteningly so. But nobody really knows when it's coming. And nobody really knows what it'll do when it runs out.
Fantastic.
But, hey. I feel reassured. The Prez's got our back. Conservation. Jesus. Is there still time...?
-----
UPDATE:
Here's an interesting solution.
posted by General Stan at 9:45 PM
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