Well Shazam!
Now, would you rather see her on your daily commute or this?
This post is about oil. Yes, another one. I simply can’t stop myself.
And, I hate to say I told you so, but I will. Can’t resist that either. As Abbey said, “some people write to please, to soothe, to console. Others to provoke, to challenge, to exasperate and infuriate. I’ve always found the second approach the more pleasing.”
So here we sit at gas at over $4.00 per gallon and rising. Yet, numbnuts all over the country are this very day getting in their gas guzzlers and taking the 25 mile (or longer) daily commute. NASCAR is running full steam ahead. Real estate agents are driving all over creation trying to sell massive houses NO ONE NEEDS. Rich folks driving to their weekend getaways in Nantucket or Pickwick, TN.
The beat goes on.
Widely scattered here and there, from Maine to Santa Cruz, a small cadre of people, likely less than 1% of the total population, are making plans. They’re working from home, riding bikes, growing food and trying to conserve while everyone else blithely goes along as if nothing is happening. One can only conclude the larger group is either selfish and apathetic or just plain stupid. Perhaps both.
There is hope, people. We can carry on in a more sensible manner. No reason for panic. Just make some modest changes.
From today’s Alternet:
“Though largely unnoticed by the world media, a decisive moment in the peak oil debate came last September, when James Schlesinger declared that the “peakists” were right. You don’t get closer to the American establishment and energy business than Schlesinger, who has served as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, head of the CIA, Defense Secretary, Energy Secretary and adviser to countless oil companies. In a speech to a conference sponsored by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, Schlesinger said, “It’s no longer the case that we have a few voices crying in the wilderness. The battle is over. The peakists have won.” Schlesinger added that many oil company CEOs privately agree that peak oil is imminent but don’t say so publicly.
One who does is Jeroen van der Veer, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. Without using the term “peak oil,” van der Veer warned in January, ‘After 2015, easily accessible supplies of oil and gas probably will no longer keep up with demand.’”
Let’s just face the cruel truth and that is that biking is cooler than driving. Although sometimes in mid August when it’s peaking out at almost a 100 degrees, I don’t think that rings quite as true.