World Oil: Running Towards Empty
by Lah-May
Ours is a civilization built upon fossil fuels. Fossil fuels account for more than 85% of our current global energy supply. This source of fuel meets our transportation needs; energizes our homes and businesses; is the basis of modern food production; transports our food and goods; is the source of material for our plastics and rubber, and even provides us with that “man-made material” to make many clothes and shoes. In fact, the list of materials that use fossil fuels in their production is quite daunting…and disconcerting. Disconcerting because oil is a finite resource, and its finiteness is becoming more and more apparent.
A term you probably haven't yet heard much on corporate media's nightly news, but is being researched more and more on the Internet, is “Peak Oil.” Studies by the oil industry, the government, consulting firms, and others generally agree in their estimations that global oil production would peak anywhere from 2000-2010. (Oil “production,” as author Thom Hartmann states in his book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Waking Up to Personal and Global Transformation, is a nice Orwellian 'newspeak' kind of term: we aren't really producing oil, any more than miners 'produce' silver. We just pump it out of the ground. It was produced from sunlight by vegetation 300 million years ago.”)
Rising Demand for a Diminishing Resource
The peaking of our energy sources does not mean these resources are suddenly going away; however, they will become more and more scarce, especially if the demand continues to rise—which it is, and not just in Western civilization, but in the developing nations as well. The dominant Western culture has been aggressively encroaching into other parts of the world. Developing countries heading in the direction of modernizing the “Western way” will find all the “wonderful technologies” coming into their country are of the types which depend on permanent nursing from a mother (Earth) whose reserves are running dry.
Fuel Food
One of the more serious impacts of declining oil availability on the world will be the effect on the modern-day methods of food production and distribution. Current estimates say it takes approximately 400 gallons of fuel per year to meet the food requirements for each American. The fuel is used for the manufacture of inorganic fertilizer, operation of field machinery, transportation, irrigation, raising livestock, crop drying, and pesticide production. One may think this is a wonderful opportunity to “go organic and eat local foods.” (Great idea! Why didn't we do that in the first place?) Unfortunately, inorganic fertilizers are required to grow food on land that has lost most of its topsoil and been depleted of its nutrients. Soils will need to be nurtured back into a healthy state.
Re-evaluating “Needs”
So, besides impacts to the transportation, food, and energy industries, how else will we be affected? The cost of fossil fuel energies will inevitably increase to the point that many items which we take for granted may become too expensive to produce—items such as:
Air conditioners, ammonia, anti-histamines, antiseptics, artificial turf, asphalt, aspirin, balloons, bandages, boats, bottles, bras, bubble gum, butane, cameras, candles, car batteries, car bodies, carpet, cassette tapes, caulking, CDs, chewing gum, combs/brushes, computers, contacts, cortisone, crayons, cream, denture adhesives, deodorant, detergents, dice, dishwashing liquid, dresses, dryers, electric blankets, electrician's tape, fertilizers, fishing lures, fishing rods, floor wax, footballs, glues, glycerin, golf balls, guitar strings, hair coloring, hair curlers, hearing aids, heart valves, heating oil, house paint, ice chests, ink, insect repellent, insulation, jet fuel, life jackets, linoleum, lip balm, lipstick, loudspeakers, medicines, mops, motor oil, motorcycle helmets, movie film, nail polish, oil filters, paddles, paint brushes, paints, parachutes, paraffin, pens, perfumes, petroleum jelly, plastic chairs, plastic cups, plastic forks, plastic wrap, plastics, plywood adhesives, refrigerators, roller-skate wheels, roofing paper, rubber bands, rubber boots, rubber cement, rubbish bags, running shoes, saccharine, seals, shirts (non-cotton), shoe polish, shoes, shower curtains, solvents, spectacles, stereos, sweaters, table tennis balls, tape recorders, telephones, tennis rackets, thermos, tights, toilet seats, toners, toothpaste, transparencies, transparent tape, TV cabinets, typewriter/computer ribbons, tires, umbrellas, upholstery, vaporizers, vitamin capsules, volleyballs, water pipes, water skis, wax, wax paper. (From WolfAtTheDoor.org)
If anything, life will get a lot simpler, and Wal-Mart may have a hard time finding so many cheap, junky, and excess items to stock its shelves with.
No Replacement in Sight
We may want to optimistically look at alternatives as replacements, but in reality, at this time there is no way we could easily convert to a solar, wind, or hydrogren-based energy economy. Solar and wind depend on weather conditions. The manufacturing of hydrogen currently requires more energy than it creates. The reality is our current means of energy has been fairly easy to acquire, transports easily, and almost all technologies have been designed around it. Change to sustainability within the industries isn't happening—nor encouraged by the government.
George Bush, Sr. is infamous for stating, “The American lifestyle is not negotiable.” Well, it looks like he forgot to first consult with Mother Nature. Since the demand for oil is increasing in this country as well as all over the globe, it makes one wonder that if there are any real leaders in the world, they must not be in power, because, it seems that those in power have profited by gorging in petroleum extraction and global dependency. Why else do we have gas-guzzling vehicles, energy-inefficient homes and buildings, minimal public transportation, and petroleum-dependent agriculture? (Now…who says we're not in Iraq because they've got one of the largest oil reserves left in the world?)
How did we get into this mess in the first place?
What is within the nature of humankind that allows greed and conspicuous consumption to dominate the planet? Why haven't there been any effective world leaders to provide direction in humankind's progress? The problem goes way back. The URANTIA Book and The Cosmic Family volumes (Fifth Epochal Revelation and Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation respectively) tell of the Lucifer Rebellion 200,000 years ago. The “war in heaven” (which also affected the planet) was not the barbarous battles we know as war. It was a battle of concepts—concepts which today are the basis for all the suffering and greed on the planet. Lucifer's proclamation that mortals “should enjoy the liberty of individual self-determination” (The URANTIA Book, p. 604) may initially sound harmless and even exciting, but this type of individualism and self-determination has given license to rampant materialism, oppression of others, plundering of the planet, etc. On the contrary, Jesus, the Creator Son of this universe of Nebadon, who so masterfully portrayed the true nature of God, taught the concept of “it is my will that the Father's will be done.” And then He was crucified by the powers that be.
What's Next?
Good question. In a lecture long-time oil industry expert C.J. Campbell concluded that peak oil is indeed a turning point for humankind. He states we will see the end of 100 years of easy growth, and the transition to a different type of society will come with great tension. He predicts we will see a peak or even a diminishment in world population. But, he also predicts priorities will shift to self-sufficiency and sustainability, and we will end up in a better world.
Ultimately a better world depends on the choices of each and every individual. As individuals we can initiate a change for the better by waking up to the reality of our responsibility to one another and to the planet—and who can foretell what benefits will manifest when we operate from higher motives. Doing the will of God (or the Creator, or the First Source and Center—whatever you choose to call Him) does not diminish one's free will. It means choosing the highest, the most perfect way. And we sure could stand to move towards perfection.
Sources and further reading:
The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg
From the Wilderness Publications (www.fromthewilderness.com)
Wolf at the Door (www.wolfatthedoor.org.uk)
C.J. Campbell, “Presentation at the Technical University of Clausthal” (www.energycrisis.org)
ASPO, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (www.peakoil.net)