The view from the top
The Presidential debates are over, and instead of going out with a bang, things ended in a quiet whimper. All the worse for us, as far as I’m concerned.
The debate last night capped off an evening that, for me, also involved the screening of a movie called The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream. The showing was sponsored by several local clubs and university organizations and attracted nearly 20 individuals who actually understand the magnitude of the problems we face in the next decade. It’s nice to know I’m not the only crank who gets off on this topic.
Oil production is at or near its peak. Forever. This is big stuff. Think about it: pretty soon, no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to extract as much oil from the Earth as we do right now. Obviously this has major implications for the health of a nation such as ours that relies so heavily on oil for virtually every facet of life. With this increased dependence on oil also comes an increased dependence on natural gas for electricity generation and home heating. We’ve come to rely on unstable energy sources for a way of life that is, at best, an unrealistic fantasy and at worst a doomed clusterfuck.
The simple facts are that neither resource is in great abundance worldwide, the United States certainly is not self-sufficient in either, and our dependencies put us in a most precarious situation. We are subject to the whims of the Middle East oil powers that be (hence, our war to stop the terrorists, find WMD’s, liberate the Iraqi people secure the oil supplies), and face increasing competition from larger nations such as China and India that are beginning down the same sad path of industrialization that we have already trod.
The United States uses 25% of the world’s oil. And we have about 4.5% of the world’s population. This is a sickening imbalance. China and India alone make up about two-fifths of the world’s population – 40%. What happens when their economic engines start demanding oil and other fossil fuels at the kind of levels we affluent Americans have grown accustomed to?
Something has got to give. And like it or not, it’s going to be this impossible way of life we have set up for ourselves. Our ridiculously long supply chains that keep the Wal-Marts of the world packed from sea to sea with the most useless mass-produced consumer goods are going to disappear. It will no longer make sense for lettuce grown in California to be shipped across the country and consumed in New York. Our suburbs will become ghettos, islands of asphalt and monotony, strangled by the realization that their “American Dream” is one of the greatest hoaxes ever pulled on the American people.
And what have will our illustrious presidential candidates do to address this issue? Judging by their performance last night, not much. The environment was mentioned in passing exactly once, by Kerry, and rising gas prices were mentioned twice, again by Kerry. And, truth be told, I don’t know if he gets totally gets it. With the way things are, rising gas prices are inevitable. The gas prices in America are not even close to those in Europe. Our subsidization of cheap oil hides the real market of supply and demand.
Blame the president for bringing us to a war that threatens our relationships with oil-producing countries, yes, but look deeper and point the finger at the American populous too. We’re the worst offender of them all, and the SUV-owning Kerry is no exception. His senate record paints him as a friend of the environment. But he has been too silent on the issue while on the campaign trail.
I was hoping for more last night. But the questions went unasked and the words remain unspoken. It’s the silence that’s killing us.
