Joyride Almost Over?

02005-05-30 | Uncategorized | 3 comments

Could the petroleum joyride — cheap, abundant oil that has sent the global economy whizzing along with the pedal to the metal and the AC blasting for decades – be coming to an end? Some observers of the oil industry think so. They predict that this year, maybe next – almost certainly by the end of the decade – the world’s oil production, having grown exuberantly for more than a century, will peak and begin to decline.

And then it really will be all downhill. The price of oil will increase drastically. Major oil-consuming countries will experience crippling inflation, unemployment and economic instability. Princeton University geologist Kenneth S. Deffeyes predicts a permanent state of oil shortage.
From Wired News

Why should any large group of people act smarter than an individual? As individuals we usually do not seek to change or find help with our problems until it is really really important, and there is no other option. We as individuals are like that, so why would groups, i.e. society, act any different? We’ll go to the brink and hopefully we will find a solution. It sure would be nice, if we don’t get too close to that brink, methinks.The sooner we start taking this serious, the less extreme the measures will have to be.

More reading: Rolling Stone article The Long Emergency:

Carl Jung, one of the fathers of psychology, famously remarked that “people cannot stand too much reality.” What you’re about to read may challenge your assumptions about the kind of world we live in, and especially the kind of world into which events are propelling us. We are in for a rough ride through uncharted territory.

Also note the documentary The End of Suburbia

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

Thanks Wendy.

Let’s face it, Suburbia wasn’t that great of an idea. A dead-end street, if you will. I have heard of old folks moving back into the city from the suburbs, because in the city they can walk to get groceries, they can take a cab to the opera or theater. They can take care of themselves and enjoy their life, while living in suburbia they depended on a car, and even going to buy milk means getting in your car…

3 Comments

  1. Wendy

    The Rolling stone article was called “The Long Emergency”. Hope you can find it.

    Reply
  2. Wendy

    Thanks for posting those links Ottmar! Next to being a great musican you are great computor whiz-ician!

    Reply

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