What we can look forward to: life after oil

You’ve heard Greg Hunter talk about Peak Oil for quite some time on this site. Today the New York Times has a short piece about the inevitable coming of life after oil.

For Mrs. Wilkerson, 33, a moderate Democrat from Oakton, Va., who designs computer interfaces, the spill reinforced what she had been obsessing over for more than a year — that oil use was outstripping the world’s supply. She worried about what would come after: maybe food shortages, a collapse of the economy, a breakdown of civil order.

via ‘Peak Oil’ Movement Prepares for the Worst – NYTimes.com.

And while there are people who continue to believe the well will never run dry, and some who try to manufacture science to support their ideas, it would seem no one predicted the levy’s breaking in New Orleans, or the Deep Horizon drilling platform blowing up, or any number of other major “doh’s.”

We’ve got people who say global warming is BS too- but, the reality is, if the polar ice caps melt and Manhattan and Miami go underwater- along with a bunch of other prime real estate, does it really matter what the cause was or who was right? Bet the dinosaurs never had a plan for an asteroid strike either- (and neither do we). Yep, one day, life as we know it may be very different.

The part of the article I found most interesting is this:

“I was ready to move out to the country and be an organic farmer, but I learned that’s not the way to do it. You need a community.”

And I thought about my community- in the most basic sense, South Park. We have a group of like-minded people who’ve been working together for years at “building community”- and when push comes to shove, we come to each other’s aid. We know our neighbors and collectively we have the skills to survive and flourish in a situation as bleak as life after oil. In fact, I’d say that Dayton with its aquifer, its nearby farmland, and the people’s general ability to be affable- would point to this being a much better place to be than say NY, LA, Chicago, Atlanta- where the population is already stacked on top of itself like cordwood waiting for a spark to set it off.

The only question will be is who will lead our region if and when everything breaks down? With so many chiefs currently at the head table, will they all still be arguing while the small neighborhoods like South Park fence off and wait for the unrest to quell? The ensuing battle for Woodland cemetery (the high ground that isn’t a garbage dump) would be the first part of the new civilization that will emerge when the cars don’t work anymore.

Do I spend a lot of time thinking about things like this? No. Have I thought about it? Absolutely- and it stems from my training in Special Forces, where we’re often tasked with rebuilding communities that have been severed from mainstream society. The only difference here would be that the language and cultural barriers wouldn’t be as hard to overcome- the biggest obstacle will be the bubbas with the biggest guns.

I’m pretty sure using ancient history to remind people of what can happen is pointless- but, Rome did fall. History is a great teacher. Democracys generally haven’t lasted more than 200 years. Are we operating on borrowed time already? We’ve already made a mockery of our elections- with offices going to not the smartest- but the ones who are willing to sell out. We’ve lived outside our means for years- with huge personal and national debt, we’ve polluted and are still paying the price in cleanup costs- and now we’ve sprawled with our belief in $3-a-gallon gas and highways. We’re fighting a war in Afghanistan trying to do what other empires have tried and failed.

Am I a crackpot candidate for even attempting to run for Congress?

How many times can we be wrong? Should we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results? Harbingers to reflect on.

Happy Sunday Morning to you too.

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