The Oil Stuck In The Gut of the Nation

Today we're going to delve into a topic that is a personal favorite of mine, Peak Oil.

Peak Oil is the generally accepted term that describes when the world will reach the peak amount of oil it can produce in one day. For example, the U.S. peaked in the 70's, which is obvious to everone today. In 50 years, we'll look back and say the x decade was the peak, obviously.

Why is this so important? After the peak of production, oil output will drop a few percent every few years. But demand will continue to rise as the population does. So this means those on the bottom of the pyramid will no longer be able to afford oil. THAT will be the start of the end of "civilization"

And NOBODY is really paying attention to this except extremists. Why? It contradicts our "American Dream" and "American way of life." For instance, below is a quote from a U.S. Senator, excerpted from Howard Kunstler's blog, Clusterfuck Nation, which is a chronicle of America's energy stupidity http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary15.html


Senator Charles ("Chuck") Grassley of Iowa, who said the following a few days ago:

"You know what? What makes our economy grow is energy. And Americans are used to going to the gas tank (sic), and when they put that hose in their, uh, tank, and when I do it, I wanna get gas out of it. And when I turn the light switch on, I want the lights to go on, and I don't want somebody to tell me I gotta change my way of living to satisfy them. Because this is America, and this is something we've worked our way into, and the American people are entitled to it, and if we're going improve (sic) our standard of living, you have to consume more energy."


I myself find it hard to believe that someone can make so brash and stupid a statement while in such view of the public. It completely avoids any link to reality whatsoever, by not mentioning the scareceness of natural resources (oil/energy), the greenhouse effect from turning out lights on, or the tyrants whose pockets we're lining by buying their energy (not to mention the trade deficit we increase by doing so."

Kunstler has this to say in regards to Senator Grassley


"To be more precise, actually, Grassley's statement displays something closer to childishness than sheer stupidity. It comprises a set of beliefs or expectations that are unfortunately widespread in our culture, namely, that we should demand a particular outcome because we want it to be so. This is exactly how children below the age of reason think..."


And that is where I believe we are today. The state of childish beliefs. Because the belief that we can continue to maintain this lifestyle of massive consumption without penalty, and without changing, is simply a pipe dream. ANYONE can do the math and figure this out.

We have a finite amount of oil on this planet. AMERICA doesn't have its hands on ANY anymore. The evil people do. And when that runs out, what will happen? America says, "Duh stupid, by then we'll just convert everything to solar power, wind power, water power, etc. We ARE living in the cutting edge of technology, you know. God, what an idiot.

Ok, fair enough. Now read this web page and then tell me what you think:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

Thats what I thought.