It seems that we have reached the threshold in America where the price of gasoline has risen to the point where the general populace is beginning to become angry.
I know this when a woman on the nightly news is practically bawling about how she has had to start buying "off-brand" groceries because of the cost of fuel! I know the world of consumerism is beginning to collapse when that happens. Not a fast collapse, but small bits are beginning to crumble.
The thing that frightens me, however, is that most average citizens (or "consumers" as we are called, because it is our economic duty to consume) haven't a damn clue about the energy industry itself, the basic principles behind energy and thermodynamics, the "peak oil" phenomenon, ecology and biogeochemistry, and the limits of natural resource extraction. All of these play a major role in how we can operate our consumerism-driven society.
But how can I blame anyone, as we've been continuously told to "Shop Till Ya' Drop!" and consume like there's no tomorrow! It would seem that the Earth is an endless cornucopia of natural resources just waiting for us to extract, convert into most often useless "consumer goods", then deposit into the nearest solid waste landfill after six months of use.
The high oil and commodity prices we are seeing today are frustrating for many people, but at the same time they are exciting. We are finally arriving at the point where economics are beginning to run the energy and consumption issues through our minds.
The same wave of thought swept through the world in the 1970s, but this time, the human race is beginning to butt against physical limits, rather than the purely geopolitical ones which were at work in the '70s.
We should have been implementing energy-efficient practices and sustainable, locally-produced energy and lifestyles since 1973, but we has this rosy idea that economics and big industry would solve all of those problems without a hitch, and that as long as oil was cheap we wouldn't give a rat's ass about any of it. Well, here we are, fossil fuels are expensive (monetarily, socially, and environmentally) and only getting more expensive, and we have done little to reduce our gluttonous waste and consumption of energy and dependence upon fossil fuels. Now it's time to get to work, with no excuses!
I don't see a dark age ahead, I see a world which downsizes its economic engines, where goods and services are produced and provided on a close-to-home basis, people live together in actual communities rather than dead expanses of look-a-like houses, and energy is available for use from all types of renewable resources.
Transportation will likely be one of the first aspects of our lives to see change, due to its direct reliance on petroleum. I do see the automobile greatly losing significance, as internal combustion cars are incredibly inefficient machines. Electric cars will certainly be available, but their range is limited (charge is not "instant" ) and therefore their use will be relegated to commuter, short trip, and errand-running vehicles. If you want to visit your family members two states away, get a train ticket, go to your local rail terminal, and hop aboard a high-speed train pulled by an electric locomotive, with electricity supplied by renewable sources and stationary cogeneration plants. Airplanes may be available as well, but due to their requirement for liquid hydrocarbon fuels, they will likely be an expensive luxury rather than a practical everyday mode of transportation. Car rental services will likely be very prosperous, and they will have combustion vehicles available in the event that someone needs one.
I firmly feel that rail is the future of transportation. Water transport is likely to see a boost as well, as it is even more efficient than rail. I would not be surprised to see the development of vessels for carrying small (truck-sized) loads on rivers which we consider to be non-navigable today.
Change is coming. NO, not lower oil prices or reversion to SUV and shopaholic heaven, but to a more sustainable and enjoyable lifestyle which is not based upon the accumulation (and subsequent disposal) of material goods/wealth.
Some good articles I have read in the past few days...
- Stranded in Suburbia - NYT
- The Suburban Question - Open the Future
- Water: world crisis - Energy Bulletin
- To teens in the first decade of the 21st century - Energy Bulletin
