The Present and The Future
The above photo was sent to me by my good friend and fellow enviro-meddler Hayduke from the Left Coast Bureau in Northern California. I don’t know who took it, but it clearly shows the the present (soon to become the past) and the future.
The present is the price of petrol, now over $4.00 per gallon in his bioregion and rising everywhere. It’s not going down, at least not significantly, ever again. We had a nice ride, but it’s over. By summer, $4.01 will be long past.
The NY Times reported this week that record-high fuel prices and the airline industry’s fragile finances have led to a new round of bankruptcies among smaller carriers. Over the coming months and years, watch for other failures, and not just in the airline industry. All industry is dependent upon the same thing: cheap fossil fuel.
But the photo is also significant because it gives a glimpse into the future and an alternative. Not just alternative transportation, which is important, but where we live and how we live. Cycling and walking are much easier if you live nearby your work. Technology makes it possible for many of us to work at home, and we can even commingle and collaborate with affordable video technologies.
Not only is it no longer feasible to just jump in the car and on a plane, it’s not necessary. It was never necessary. Some folks just thought it was.
My question is this: What’s it gonna take for people to get this through their thick heads? Something tells me we’re like mindless lab rats hooked on cocaine, always scurrying back for the fix, despite the fact that someone has generously left the cage door open and therefore a way out. (Apologies to rodents which are actually marvels of evolution and quite adaptable.)
Oh well. Not much else I can do. I’ve been harping on this for years and very few of my friends and family have listened. It goes in one ear and out the other. Just another one of Jack’s rants about Peak Oil, community and bioregional living.
As Hayduke likes to say, “Twas ever thus.”
But one last time, let me give some advice. Find an affordable, sufficient home that’s reasonably close to work. Find meaningful work, not just a “job.” Get a bike. Get some panniers for the bike. Ride it to the store, to work, everywhere you can. Watch your weight and blood pressure go down and your savings account go up. Learn how to grow food. Get involved in your community and live in place.
Think about your present lifestyle when gas is $6.00 per gallon or higher. Can you afford to keep it going? And even if you could, why would you? Why give these assholes at big oil companies that sort of money?
Think about how this will affect the cost of everything, including prescription drugs and food, and no, folks, there’s no replacement for fossil fuel. Biofuels, ethanol and the like don’t cut the mustard. It takes more energy to produce it than the energy derived, so don’t count on technology saving our asses.
Best way to save your ass? Get a bike, plop it down on the seat and ride.
