Over the weekend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned us that the price of oil could go as high as $200 per barrel if the U.S. attacks Iran.
Of course I don't want the U.S. to attack Iran, but for other reasons. I'm thinking that these rising oil prices are not necessarily a bad thing.
You see, Americans are slaves to their automobiles. They drive too much in their bloated gas-guzzling SUVs. In fact, U.S. gasoline consumption accounts for 11 percent of the world's oil production.
The world does not contain an infinite supply of oil. In fact, it's running out fast. But that's not enough to make the average American want to park the Suburban and walk instead.
And, of course, burning all that gasoline contributes to global warming. But, while many Americans say they care, they won't cut down on their gas consumption. Instead, they seem to believe that they're doing their part for the environment by simply recycling all their empty Aquafina bottles.
No, Americans won't voluntarily give up the comforts and conveniences they've become used to and think they're entitled to. That's where rising oil prices come in.
If the realities of climate change and peak oil production won't prompt Americans to reduce their oil consumption, maybe $5-per-gallon gasoline will do the trick.
If you can't appeal to the conscience, maybe you have to appeal to the wallet.
And, in this spoiled, car-crazy culture, that might be the best we can hope for.
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http://www.maryshawonline.com
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
The U.S. hit peak oil in 1970, did that slow us down? Nope, we picked up steam and produced Class "A" motor homes and the most inefficient cars in history.
Today, we import 65 to 75% of all oil consumed. So the price? It's not our oil, how can we dictate price? Well there is Iraq...
Several people point out the price of oil jumping during this war, what they fail to point out is that the new entries such as China, Korea, India are consuming at an incredible rate and 28 of the 32 largest producing nations are in production decline.
As the old showman said, "You ain't see nothing yet."
I'll be writing a more in-depth piece soon, this is in the area of my expertise.
Mike
by
Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 7:13:46 AM
As we wean ourselves, by choice or by force, from petroleum motor fuels we will encounter a new range of problems unless we have a ready alternative to keep the cars rolling. These problems will stem from how we have organized ourselves, our society and our infrastucture predicated on the eternal availability of the automobile.
Our cities, at least, have a mass transit system in place that can be modernized and expanded, but suburbia and rural areas would be in real trouble. The loss of the availability of the automobile for transportation would cause serious dislocations.
In Europe, cities have extensive mass transit with a huge ridership (thanks to the expense of motor fuels) and suburban and rural areas are, by and large, organized so that essential markets and services are within walking distance. This model is in place, in large measure, because it was developed and became the norm before the automobile was invented.
In our suburbia, this is not the case. These towns and villages have been organized around the highway system that makes them accessible from the city. It would be an onerous task to stroll twelve miles along a highway to the mall, and return the along same route with your family's Christmas shopping in tow. Even with a cart to bear the load, such an excursion would make for a very full day.
The expense of the required reorganization will be considerable, and not likely to lend itself easily to corporate economies of scale. For new development, we must plan for mass transit and sustainability, starting right now.
by
John Sanchez Jr. (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1172 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 8:49:11 AM
All very true. The move to a new fuel will be a prohibitive cost, one never considered as important as oil will always be available; for the next election cycle.
The U.S. is not easily adaptive to a mass transit system. We are a country of 300,0000,000+ people and 4,000 miles coast to coast. Our rural farming economy currently feeds the vastly unproductive masses who reside in the cities pushing bank paper around or selling advetisement.
Our manufacturing sector has gone the way of the buffalo and the loss of cheap fuel will as they say in Vegas, "break up the game."
You are very correct in that there is no plan for the end of cheap fuel. Even if they trotted our a grand plan today, it would be much too late.
We must have fundamental change. There are some problems that don't have good solutions.
Your observation that fuel is not the only issue facing America, is oh-so true.
by
Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 12:24:11 PM
Let me first ask you Ms. Shaw, how much money exactly have these big oil cartels profited from the gas-guzzling vehicles and vehicles in general which we drive? BILLIONS! Upon BILLIONS! Having said that, let me then ask you, how much of this money have these cartels put back into the system to help produce an alternative fuel that will help mitigate Global Warming? Practically nothing! So Why punish the middle class and working poor with $5 a gal gasoline?
Higher gas prices will be a catastrophe for the people just trying to get by in crazy world which we live. We're at the mercy of the huge cartels who'll see to that each and every drop of that black gold, that Texas tea is extracted from the Earth, and when you have a nefarious administration in office, both Democrat and Republican, they'll make certain this crude is extracted regardless of how many innocent lives lost in the process. They don't give a rat's arse about you or I Ms. Shaw or for that matter, this planet. Alterative fuel you say? Yeah, right! Just for arguments sake, if there's a hundred million barrels of oil that remains just beneath the surface of the Middle East sands and then times this by $100 and you see why the don't invest in alternative fuels.
The bottom line is $ and sadly, the only thing that'll stop these oil barons is when this planet is uninhabitable.
by
Munich (0 articles, 67 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 831 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 1:27:02 PM
I hate it when things get get expensive or we start to run out and the solution is to use less of what ever it is.
Oil is an antiquated energy source. It is dirty, harmful to the environment, and unhealthy. The only reason that it's still around is because the rich are still making money on it.
The reason that other clean energy sources are struggling to come to fruition is lack of money and the rich will keep it that way as long as they have the oil market cornered. If we were to throw 1/10th of the money at developing these technologies that we are spending in Iraq because of oil, we would have a viable alternative in less a year and start to transition.
Wind technology is cheaper, safer, more efficient, and employs more people than nuclear energy. Hydrogen claimed from ocean water will burn at up to 8,000 degrees. The costs of using these forms of energy are prohibitive right now but, with enough money, these technical issues could be rapidly resolved.
Imagine a cute little windmill on your roof, a battery pack the size of your washing machine hidden away someplace, ocean water being pumped in the pipes leading to your furnace and available to fill the tank in your synthetically lubricated SUV, rain water from your roof being fed to an underground tank for your long hot showers, watering your lawn, squirting off your driveway, and filling your swimming pool, and throw in a few aesthetically pleasing solar panels for backup.
The net result is you get to use all you want, there is no dirt, no smog, no Middle East conflict, and it's almost free. Your monthly bill would consist of a payment for the installation and pipe maintenance. Pipelines, tankers, and railroad cars to the Midwest would be windmill filled with free saltwater.
This may sound like a fantasy but all of the technology is available today andjust needs to be fine tuned. It will be a fantasy unless we stop throwing money at oil and get to work on it.
by
Web Smith (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 26 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 9:25:33 PM
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