A friend sent me a link to a New York Times article the other day (thanks, Francis!) - which sparked real interest in me. Check it out (you may have to copy and paste): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06peak.html
Anyone that is two years younger than me up to ten years older remember in school that we learned about how oil was not an endless well; kids in school today take this as common knowledge. So, why didn't we ever get serious about finding some other energy resource to tap? Why did we keep drilling for oil? Same reason we ignored isolationism and embraced globalization: money money money money.
Your cries for jobs are going unanswered because companies have found workers ALL over the world that are willing to do it for less. My cries for renewable energy exploration (along with the cries of millions of others) are also unanswered because oil is just so damn cheap.
Have we really become that trashy (pardon the pun)? Have we become cool with handing ourselves over to the cheapest bidder? The sad thing is, oil is the cheapest form of energy, yet the big oil lobbyists have our government by the horns with their big money (and BP is certainly included in that list).
But no amount of money, millions, billions, whatever, is going to do squat when it all runs out - and I seem to remember some number like 50 years when I was 12. Being a math WHIZ, I fear that gives us less than 40 years; 37 to be exact. I also fear for our future.
I have a link up on my sidebar detailing other ways we use oil - forget about driving a car or heating your home. Those things are pretty easy to accommodate, if lost. You can ride a bike and burn some wood. Sure, our national and international economies will shut down because you can't really bike a cross country business trip, but let's forget about our economy for once. What about our day-to-day survival? The article above points out that if we reach our peak with oil, forget grocery stores - how's the food going to get there? Canned goods? No way. And for the vain: no more make up!
How many of us really know how to survive? Not me; if it weren't for my fiance, I wouldn't know squat about being a survivalist. We joked when we first got together that you could drop him in the middle of the woods, with a knife and warm clothes, and he'd be fine. Then came Survivorman, and the joke got even funnier. But it's not funny anymore. We've already switched to venison and rarely ever eat beef anymore. We've taken all of the advice of his father and my grandmother (the former is an unofficial master gardener, the latter IS a master gardener) to grow a successful garden. And we are soaking in all suggestions we can to reduce our consumption and reuse what we can.
But is that even enough? I'm not a pessimist; I consider myself a realist. We all know oil is nonrenewable in our lifetimes. And we have yet to fully immerse ourselves in alternative energy. The sun will shine long past the human race's run. Deep ocean currents will flow, waiting for us to harness their unrelenting energy. The wind continues to flow over plains and mountains with forces that are so beautiful and clean. Yet we ignore all of this. We continue to shop at the Dollar Store, because we are cheap.
But cheap is going to get us killed - and unfortunately, we are taking millions of species, and an entire Earth with us.
Thanks for the shoutout Arielle! LOVE the layout esp. since it's fitting with your blog.
ReplyDeleteI liked the one part where u determine how much longer fossil fuels will be in existence and it reminded me of a book that might interest you. It's called the Prize by Daniel Yergin. I have to warn you: it's 600+ pgs book, but filled with tons of info that reflects on today's blog.
I don't know if you caught today's news, but Pres. Obama wants to "kick someone's ass" for this whole catastrophe. Ahhh...only wish he could've said that when the oil spill first broke out.
Also, I've been hearing from friends, but I think there should be a benefit concert to "save the Gulf" since this is something that is near and dear to us. I mean, we had a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina, Darfur, and Haiti. We need one to save our "own backyard." What do you think?
forget length, i'll check the book out and definitely put a link up for it on the blog. do you think it's something i can find at the local library? (you know me, just trying to reduce and reuse :)
ReplyDeletei absolutely heard about obama's words - and i'm with you. i'm not necessarily criticizing him. when it comes down to it, BP did nothing legally wrong, and so the government was not inclined to respond because no (written) laws were being broken. but i also think he should have gotten this fired up the MINUTE all of this happened!
i've been hearing A LOT about how there has been little celebrity publicity on the Gulf - i haven't heard about a concert. i really hope it happens. i think it's starting to tick people off that we'll throw a benefit for other countries, but not our own. although i do think we know very little about things like oil spills, and very little about the ocean in general, which may be why a benefit concert has been put off.
do you think our societal ignorance of oceans and the true environmental impact of off shore drilling has delayed things like celebrity recognition?
Oh yeah, you can def. find it at any library. Shouldn't be a problem! I had to read this book for my Energy class and while the length of the book was quite overwhelming, the presentation and information that Yergin presents is very powerful and really reflects on our current outlook of energy. When u get a chance, def. read it! I'm sure you'll gain a helluva lot more than me from reading that book! lol.
ReplyDeleteAnybody esp. President Obama should've been fired up from minute one when the oil spill happened. BP is going through some arduous obstacles right now esp. there is report that it could go bankrupt. I might have spotted an article somewhere, but with its current status, I wouldn't be surprised.
To answer your question, I think the majority of society is not well informed or attentive to our surroundings (environment, oceans, etc). The only way people would pay attention to that is through the power of media and getting high profiled people to get people's attention and care about the oceans and environment. When the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill took place in Alaska (we were too young to remember it thoroughly, but understood the immense impact and consequences from the spill), I don't think there were benefit concerts for it. I know there was PSA that reiterated how precious the environment is and how much harm like an oil spill can do. Who knows? Maybe we'll see more of those PSA again and it'll implore people to be environmentally conservative.
Anyways, I hope I answered your question. What you think?
thanks for the advice on the book - i'll stop at the library on the way home from work tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteas for what you said about exxon-valdez: i have a simple question: do you think any amount of PSA-ing will make us change our ways? i worry that we are the type of society that needs to hit rock bottom before we'll give in. unfortunately, rock bottom (when it comes to oil and energy) is a little too late...
thoughts?