Morning Rant

It has thus far been hard for me to find “direction” in this life. I'm talking about direction in terms of a stable career, acquiring a house, family planning, etc. The “direction” or lifestyle that seems to be the socially acceptable standard or goal. I have to guess that it's been hard for me because I accept a different framework of reality. To live a blissful life pursuing the “American Dream” standard of our society one must assume a lack of change. That our current social institutions will be fairly similar throughout our lives. That the sources for our education, our retirement, our energy, our food, and our income will always be there. Most people seem to blindly accept this and continue their socially standard lifestyle.

My rational framework, however, has been unable to accept that drastic change is not due. I can simply not rationalize that the foundations of our society and current lifestyle are going to continue much as they have. The life supports and fundamental needs of our industrialized lifestyles are coming to an end. The energy source that has become the backbone of our world is running out. This is a widely accepted fact, but with with an unknown date it is commonly brushed aside. It is common sense, at least to most fifth graders, that a non-renewable resource is non-renewable. It runs out! It's only a question of when. Well, this is a subject of endless debate. After reading many books, and viewing several documentaries on the theme, it seems we're already experiencing the affects of a diminished supply. Just keeping tabs on world news lends support to this train of thought.

Maybe you're thinking “no big deal”. Oil runs out, fine. Civilization flourished sporadically for thousands of years before we used oil. Well, maybe this would be fine if our current global population was that of 1-3 thousand years ago. The use of oil allowed our population to grow exponentially. Without listing the numerous ways oil is essential to our way of life, we only need consider food to realize an oil deficient impact. As is the subject of many books, articles, and documentaries, our food system is dependent upon a readily available supply of oil. The fertilizers, pesticides, machines for planting, machines for harvesting, trucks for shipping, machines for processing, refrigeration for storage, packaging production, trucks for distribution, and your car to pick it up at the supermarket are all dependent on easy access to oil.

So now, without massive changes to our infrastructure and lifestyles, the current populations will be non-renewable. Unfortunately we're not talking a small change here. If no miraculous technological super energy source is expeditiously invented, and if extraterrestrial beings with superior knowledge don't intervene, the implications are scary. To return to a stable population without the oil infrastructure, we're looking at a population reduction 10 times WWII every year for the next 75 years. For those of us who learned history in public schools, that's roughly 100 million a year, for the next 75 years. In other terms, that's a population reduction of almost three times the entire population of California (the most populous state in the U.S.) gone every year.

First, as they are right now, food costs will rise. Eventually the whole web of oil dependent food production will not be cost effective or even viable. If this happens suddenly, we'll really be screwed. Imagine no more food being produced and shipped to your local grocery store. The food in that store will generally only support its surrounding population for a matter of days or weeks. Are you prepared to grow your own food? Do you even live in a climate where you can grow your own food? Do you think you would be able to grow enough to support yourself, your family? What about those around you? What about surviving it things turn violent? These are the questions people in our society will be forced to ask, but should start asking themselves now.

For a nice clear explanation of Peak Oil and some of it's implications check out the first site that appeared from all knowing google! The search words were simply "Peak Oil, Population".