Home
Archive
Columnists
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Working Assets Wireless
Advertisement
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Ten Ways to Prepare for a Post-Oil Society

By James Howard Kunstler, Kunstler.com. Posted February 10, 2007.


The best way to feel hopeful about our looming energy crisis is to get active now and prepare for living arrangements in a post-oil society.

Share and save this post:
Digg iconDelicious iconReddit iconFark iconYahoo! iconNewsvine! iconFacebook iconNewsTrust icon

More stories by James Howard Kunstler

Get AlterNet in
your mailbox!

 
Advertisement

Editor's Note: James Howard Kunstler is a leading writer on the topic of peak oil the problems it poses for American suburbia. Deeply concerned about the future of our petroleum dependent society, Kunstler believes we must take radical steps to avoid the total meltdown of modern society in the face looming oil and gas shortages. For background on this topic, read Kunstler's essay, "Pricey Gas, That's Reality."

Out in the public arena, people frequently twang on me for being "Mister Gloom'n'doom," or for "not offering any solutions" to our looming energy crisis. So, for those of you who are tired of wringing your hands, who would like to do something useful, or focus your attention in a purposeful way, here are my suggestions:

1. Expand your view beyond the question of how we will run all the cars by means other than gasoline. This obsession with keeping the cars running at all costs could really prove fatal. It is especially unhelpful that so many self-proclaimed "greens" and political "progressives" are hung up on this monomaniacal theme. Get this: the cars are not part of the solution (whether they run on fossil fuels, vodka, used frymax™ oil, or cow shit). They are at the heart of the problem. And trying to salvage the entire Happy Motoring system by shifting it from gasoline to other fuels will only make things much worse. The bottom line of this is: start thinking beyond the car. We have to make other arrangements for virtually all the common activities of daily life.

2. We have to produce food differently. The Monsanto/Cargill model of industrial agribusiness is heading toward its Waterloo. As oil and gas deplete, we will be left with sterile soils and farming organized at an unworkable scale. Many lives will depend on our ability to fix this. Farming will soon return much closer to the center of American economic life. It will necessarily have to be done more locally, at a smaller-and-finer scale, and will require more human labor. The value-added activities associated with farming -- e.g. making products like cheese, wine, oils -- will also have to be done much more locally. This situation presents excellent business and vocational opportunities for America's young people (if they can unplug their Ipods long enough to pay attention.) It also presents huge problems in land-use reform. Not to mention the fact that the knowledge and skill for doing these things has to be painstakingly retrieved from the dumpster of history. Get busy.

3. We have to inhabit the terrain differently. Virtually every place in our nation organized for car dependency is going to fail to some degree. Quite a few places (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami ...) will support only a fraction of their current populations. We'll have to return to traditional human ecologies at a smaller scale: villages, towns, and cities (along with a productive rural landscape). Our small towns are waiting to be reinhabited. Our cities will have to contract. The cities that are composed proportionately more of suburban fabric (e.g. Atlanta, Houston) will pose especially tough problems. Most of that stuff will not be fixed. The loss of monetary value in suburban property will have far-reaching ramifications. The stuff we build in the decades ahead will have to be made of regional materials found in nature -- as opposed to modular, snap-together, manufactured components -- at a more modest scale. This whole process will entail enormous demographic shifts and is liable to be turbulent. Like farming, it will require the retrieval of skill-sets and methodologies that have been forsaken. The graduate schools of architecture are still tragically preoccupied with teaching Narcissism. The faculties will have to be overthrown. Our attitudes about land-use will have to change dramatically. The building codes and zoning laws will eventually be abandoned and will have to be replaced with vernacular wisdom. Get busy.


Digg!

See more stories tagged with: suburbia, energy crisis, peak oil

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »


Advertisement

 

Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
Not what Americans want to hear...
Posted by: johnecolby on Feb 10, 2007 12:16 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
but need to hear. The job ahead is monumental. Sacrifice will become the norm, either now or later. Time to start.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: The Other Shoe Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: Not what Americans want to hear... Posted by: constantreader
» bingo Posted by: fifthworld
What Al Gore Doesn't Get...
Posted by: dgiVista.org on Feb 10, 2007 12:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
is absolutely huge.

His miniscule prescriptions for change are designed to merely be inconvenient for those of us in the industrialized world. We are responsible for a wildly disproportionate share of resource use consequences.

George Monbiot's Heat goes to a much better degree in describing what we are going to have to do to survive and I do not think dropping the thermostat a few degrees is really what it's going to take.

This is a fantastic article you should forward to everyone in all your networks...and I've never said that about an alternet.org piece before. I really mean it.

stephen buckley
dgiVista.org

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: What Al Gore Doesn't Get... Posted by: UncleBuck
» RE: What Al Gore Doesn't Get... Posted by: monkeywrench
» RE: What Al Gore Doesn't Get... Posted by: UncleBuck
Burn baby burn
Posted by: Aufklaerung_Baboon on Feb 10, 2007 12:56 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Just think about the millions (or billions) of gallons fuel that are WASTED daily as people just sit in traffic...yes, as we sit in traffic or creep along at a few miles per hour during rush-hour we are irresponsibly wasting huge amounts of fuel ON A DAILY BASIS. Yes, energy that took millions of years to form simply burns away as millions if not billions spend hours each day sitting idly in traffic.

This is why we need gas-electric hybrid cars IMMEDIATELY. The car/truck can be kept in electric mode while sitting idly in traffic and while going slow. But the car can switch over to gasoline usage on the highways/freeways where gasoline can be utilized quite efficiently in modern cars.

Seeing thousands of cars just sitting in traffic daily where I live, all the while burning (WASTING) valuable fuel burns me up; it's even more deranged when one realizes that this is happening everywhere, every day.

We should also start mass-manufacturing mini/micro two-seater cars too (or even one-seater cars); people could take these back and forth to work every day (since people often drive alone to work) or use them for simple trips instead of driving the family Hummer around everywhere (they could still own a full-size car too, only it would be used less frequently). These very small micro-cars could easily get 70-80 MPG or even much more, and would use MUCH less gas when idling in traffic during rush-hour -- horsepower could be capped at low and optimized ranges on these micro-cars to increase fuel efficiency, say a top-speed of 75-85MPH, if even that. These micro-cars would also be quite cheap to make and buy, no more than $6-7,000 each I would say (and the individual governments that make them could even GIVE them away to citizens to save huge quantities of fuel on a mass basis!). This is only a temporary fix -- but it would obviously cut gas consumptions dramatically if it was immediately implemented though.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Burn baby burn Posted by: ankhet
» djnoll for president Posted by: UncleBuck
» RE: djnoll for president Posted by: djnoll
» RE: The Numbers Say Different Posted by: NoPCZone
» Very well, I get it... Posted by: mjabele
» It's really not that bad Posted by: AdamG
» Well, I hope it isn't... Posted by: mjabele
» RE: Burn baby burn Posted by: hapibeli
» RE: Burn baby burn Posted by: jas3030
Another idea...
Posted by: ahmlco on Feb 10, 2007 1:11 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All interesting ideas, yet all have a common theme: That we have no choice but to go back in time to Mayberry RFD.

Here's an alternative for you. Instead of regressing backwards, how about going forwards? Instead of assuming transportation is going to become prohibitively expensive, how about working to ensure that it's not?

How about researching alternative energy technologies like hydrogen, solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, pebble-bed nuclear, and so on? How about working today to ensure our infrastructure is ready for tomorrow? How about being proactive and not reactive for a change?

How about, just once, taking 1/10th of the amount of money spent annually on "defense" and investing it into the above mentioned research? One tenth. Or, heaven forbid, spend one quarter of that amount. Because if we did that, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

How many advanced fighters, bombers, ships, carriers, and submarines do we need, anyhow?

One additional side-effect of our developing and mastering those energy-related technologies is that if we do, we're not going to have to worry about our economy. Why? Because the entire world is going to want them.

In addtion, buy energy-efficient lighting and heating now. Replace energy-wasting windows and, if it's time, appliances. If you need a new car, get one that's fuel-efficient and flex-fueled. Turn off your computer. Put devices on timers. Recycle and reduce your impact.

In short, stop pretending that yesterday is the answer, stop sticking your head in the sand, stop wasting resources, and above all, SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Another idea... Posted by: Artkansas
» I've wondered about that Posted by: AdamG
» no, no, I get all that Posted by: AdamG
» RE: no, no, I get all that Posted by: djnoll
» Djnoll has my vote!! Posted by: TheWayfinder
» RE: Djnoll has my vote!! Posted by: djnoll
» RE: no, no, I get all that Posted by: UncleBuck
» RE: no, no, I get all that Posted by: MyLeftFoot
» Sounds like Frank Herbert's "Dune"... Posted by: thoughtcriminal
» RE: no, no, I get all that Posted by: djnoll
» Great post! Posted by: thoughtcriminal
» RE: Another idea... Posted by: Ivor Biggun
» Kunstler's answer Posted by: fifthworld
» RE: Kunstler's answer Posted by: ahmlco
» Obviously... Posted by: ABetterFuture
» Just take COST alone Posted by: fifthworld
» Somewhere in the middle... Posted by: Peyotino
Speaking Truth to Democrats
Posted by: lessbread on Feb 10, 2007 3:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Mike Gravel's Campaign

"We have become a nation ruled by fear. Since the end of the Second World War, various political leaders have fostered fear in the American people--fear of communism, fear of terrorism, fear of immigrants, fear of people based on race and religion, fear of gays and lesbians in love who just want to get married and fear of people who are somehow different. It is fear that allows political leaders to manipulate us all and distort our national priorities."

"We are indeed a great nation, one that has made significant contributions to humanity. But our leaders are promoting delusional thinking when boasting that the United States and Americans are superior to the rest of the human race. We are no better and no worse."

"The major problems we face are all global in nature--energy, the environment, terrorism, drugs, war, immigration, disease, economic and cultural globalization. These problems require global solutions that can only be addressed by concerted diplomacy and cooperation, not jingoism about America's super power superiority."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Speaking Truth to Democrats Posted by: lessbread
» RE: Speaking Truth to Democrats Posted by: inclement
» The truth can hurt Posted by: UncleBuck
» RE: The truth can hurt Posted by: lessbread
» RE: The truth can hurt Posted by: UncleBuck
Vampire Killer
Posted by: edith on Feb 10, 2007 4:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In Kunstler's words: "You can state categorically that any enterprise now supersized is likely to fail -- everything from the federal government to big corporations to huge institutions."

The monster called the federal govt is not authorized in its present scale and power by the US constitution. The Defense and Security State, No Child Left Alive, the federal income tax and its thug enforcer IRS, Farm Subsidies to Cargill et al, tax breaks for BP and Exxon, Federal Health Care (including the meddling and incompetent FDA) , Social Security are all items with meritorious contents (not the Security State) that should be in the purview of and the essence of active state and local govts, as well as voluntary citizens(what a quaint word) associations.

Big Fat Federal Moma burns a lot of energy. Air Force One and Nancy Pelosi's jet are symbols of our federal aristocracy and its wasteful habits. Substract the co2 emissions of the feds and you've put a few medium sized countries on a Kyoto emissions reduction diet.

Federal Moma: you are not going to be put on life support because you are taking all the oxygen out of the room. People will have to take care of people that they actually interact with daily, not some stranger in a faroff state. And yes, states have a purpose. They should determine who is a resident of the state, because they, not the federal govt, are the essential building blocks of the original federal system in the Constitution. The Feds serve the states,not the other way around. At least that's how it was supposed to work and we'd have wasted a lot less energy and lost a lot fewer lives in idiotic wars if we stuck to the intent and purpose of our constitution.

Earl Warren, we will finally dig you up and drive a stake through your bleeding heart.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Vampire Killer Posted by: CCridr
jannahanna
Posted by: jannahanna on Feb 10, 2007 4:48 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Buy your horse and buggy now!!! And start looking for a place with a barn and pasture. Good luck.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: jannahanna Posted by: polyquat50
» RE: jannahanna - good luck Posted by: robdashu
» RE: jannahanna Posted by: monkeywrench
Thanks again, Mr. Kunstler
Posted by: nopuppy on Feb 10, 2007 5:36 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I lived for 25 years in NYC, and the best thing about it (though sometimes the worst) was mass transit. Now I'm living in a village, but because it's a tiny village, I must drive to work in another town. Only 7 miles, but that's a long way to walk or bike as I enter my golden years. Anyway, my industry (clinical research) will collapse with the government. I'm hoping by then my village, once a booming canal town, will have swelled with new ways to earn a living, and at least I can start learning how to grow some of my food.

The fixation on the car, keeping the car viable, is indeed going to be the nail in the coffin of surviving the end of oil. If I hear one more person talking about biofuels as a replacement - don't they realize we're growing the plants to make biofuels with petroleum-based fertilizers??? People are denial machines, but if we keep hammering the message home, it'll get through. If we could just link it up to a prejudice, as Bush did with Iraq, we'd already be transitioning to solar, wind, and water power systems.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Thanks again, Mr. Kunstler Posted by: monkeywrench
» RE: Thanks again, Mr. Kunstler Posted by: oilpatch2
» Corporate welfare Posted by: gellero
What it comes down to
Posted by: tiellis on Feb 10, 2007 6:52 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
James Kunstler has once again favored us with his sharp insights and his usual acerbic wit in warning us about the looming post-petroleum future.

What he is saying in a nutshell, I think, is this: in the grim future that awaits all of us after our petroleum-addicted global mass culture goes cold turkey, those most likely to survive and prevail will be those who start now learning how to grow gardens, grow communities, and grow local, self-reliant economies.

Because everything "big"--from big government to big business, to big agriculture, to big suburbia, to big medicine, to big transportation, to big education--is utterly dependent on cheap petroleum, and will crumble and collapse into chaos.

In this new chaotic global environment, those best able to cope will NOT be the merciless, hard-core survivalists who take to the hills with their stash of guns and ammo, build high walls, and shoot everyone who comes near. Rather, it will be those who learn, now, how to grow gardens, grow communities, and grow local economies--who get to know, and make themselves useful to, their neighbors, starting today.

When the petroleum-based infrastructure collapses, those local communities that are well organized and already actively involved in building a local, sustainable economy will be infinitely better off than all the clueless suburbanites, sitting in their SUVs with empty gas tanks, wondering why there is no food available at the local Wal Mart...

It all begins with getting off our butts, planting a few seeds, learning a few skills, and above all talking to a few neighbors.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: What it comes down to Posted by: djnoll
» RE: What it comes down to Posted by: eddie torres
Sustainable Future
Posted by: UncleBuck on Feb 10, 2007 6:55 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't think Kunstler is suggesting that we return to the stone age. He is pointing out the futility of our carbon-burning-dependent cultural/economic system. It matters not whether one lives in a city town or rural area. The points are that the current system is grossly inefficient and self destructive. To improve efficiency people need to work closer to their homes and the goods they consume need to be produced closer to their homes. Also, addressed is the difference between needs (food, clothing, shelter, energy) and wants, hence the repeated i-pod analogy. As we know it today, the sun powers our planet, even the fossil fuels are long term results of solar power. It's possible that science will uncover a new clean power source, gravity, anti-gravity, dark matter, dark energy, ionic, who knows. Until then it seems prudent to do the best we can with the technology we have, solar, wind, wave, etc. to gear for a clean sustainable future. Changes are immanent. He's suggesting we prepare for them now.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Sustainable Future Posted by: djnoll
» RE: Sustainable Future Posted by: UncleBuck
Face reality, would you?
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Feb 10, 2007 7:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
1) The entrenched fossil fuel industry must be actively opposed and forced to change, from the top tiers of financial control down to the gas stations and freeways and coal-fired power plants and petroleum-guzzling automobiles and heating oil-fired boilers and natural gas-powered petrochemical plants. We have to take steps to shut down coal-fired power plants, and ban foreign oil imports as a first step.

Why? There's enough fossil fuel in the ground to fry the climate - we could easily raise CO2 levels to 1500 ppm, and they could go all the way to 3000 ppm, unless the human species decides to stop burning coal and petroleum and natural gas - and that will lead to catastrophic global warming. Things will be difficult enough if we can stabilize CO2 at 450 ppm, but not catastrophic. The science is no longer in doubt - even the conservative IPCC report agrees. We can't afford to wait around for the oil & coal to run out - we have to shut it off on a global basis - meaning we need to work together with China, India, Russia, Australia, Europe, Africa, etc. - we need global cooperation, and the first step is to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

2) Population and per capita CO2 emissions have to be addressed, or we'll all end up like China - a semi-totalitarian society where birth rates are controlled by government intervention. There were 2 billion people in the world in 1945; now there are 6.5 billion people in the world. Promoting healthy and safe birth control and supporting the economic and human rights of women in the Third World are the best methods of reducing population growth. Notice also that many Western countries are developing top-heavy, aging populations - and the solution is obvious - allow more immigration from the Third World to industrialized nations - and that means getting over provincial hatred of foreigners and entrenched racism of the past few centuries - immigration strengthens a nation when there are opportunities for all. Start thinking about human beings - one people, on one little planet, with one connected future.

3) Energy replacements. Look around - you see houses, cities, farms - the dwelling places of humanity. We need heat and light in order to survive. What's the energy source if we don't use fossil fuels? There's only one answer: the sun. Solar photovoltaics and solar water heating are immediate solutions for existing homes, and the electricity grid is a critical component as well - it allows us to share and distribute and store electrical energy generated via solar and also wind (sun heats the air and land and ocean, and causes the winds to blow). The solar resource is unlimited - unlike fossil fuels, we will never run out - but you only get so much per day, so there is also a need for energy storage systems - methods of collecting solar and wind energy and metering it out as needed. The new renewable energy economy will produce more jobs than exist in the fossil fuel sector, as well.

We can figure out the farming, the water and the transportation needs, and we can maintain the global information connectivity of the Internet - but face it, you can't wait for the fossil fuels to run out. You can't hide in your idyllic little village and ignore the outside world - because believe me, it won't ignore you. If you are really concerned about this, you have to shut down the use of fossil fuels - and with our government at war in the Mideast over oil, and preparing to go into Africa to seize their oil as well, with more coal being burned on a global basis than ever before by a massive political-economical combine with obviously fascist tendencies and tight links to the London-New York financial system, it's going to be a struggle of epic proportions - but it must be done. The other choice is to sit on your back porch and watch the sun go down on humanity.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» U.S. stealing oil from Africa Posted by: Aufklaerung_Baboon
» Right on about coal Posted by: Leadbyexample
The Future with less oil
Posted by: Rbuck on Feb 10, 2007 7:09 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When in college many years ago there was a course offered in surmising the future of our society. I wrote a lengthy paper on renewable energy. Little of what I envisioned would come true. The times changed and the players changed and not all forces on this green earth pulled for the good. Some corporations did everything they could to tighten the strangle hold on the little guy and the little guy often failed at doing what's right.

Most of us will do the best we can and we'll all bungle along down that unknowable road into the future. It's the kids that have a tough time coming, I can crap out and die at anytime and still have had a full life. One that benefited from surpluses of our culture if even in a limited way. The greed that has marked our socitey will leave a debt to be paid.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Kuntsler actually had some good, sound advice
Posted by: AdamG on Feb 10, 2007 7:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Instead of focusing on what we will lose, we should look at our opportumities. Many aspects of our lives propped up by fossil fuels and cheap energy don't really serve us well. While there are things I will miss, primarily out of nostalgia and convenience, there is much I will be glad to see gone when this deck of cards comes tumbling down.

Our lives will once again have context and meaning. This can't be understated how much it will mean, especially for generations to come. Todays youth definitely suffer from this loss. Many of us go about our daily lives not directly experience who, what, and why we live, work, and die for. Most of our personal transactions have been reduced to impersonal, unintimate, almost anonymous moments. The system that we have come to depend on has been become so large and complex that virtually none of us can even begin to comprehend our place in it all and it has left us spiritually empty.

Physical health wise, we will be much better off. While there are many things that humanity has made that we will be dealing with for a long time to come (persistent chemicals, salinisation/erosion of the soil, deforestation, esertification, nuclear waste, etc) this place has an amazing capacity for renewal, we just need to start doing our part and helping it along. Eating organic, local foods in season, working more with our brain and brawn, and just having a much more manageable pace and scale of life will make many of the degenrative diseases we have come to know relics of our industrial past.

This whole Earth, this entire living process that accomodates and provides for us loves us unconditionally. Stars die releasing the constituent elements that make up the air we breathe. Every breathe we take, every moment we have is because of untold sacrifice. All it asks is to be loved in return, for the sacrifice that is made on our behalf to be observed, acknowledged, and reciprocated. All we have to do is listen and return the favor. It really is that easy.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

boblecht
Posted by: boblecht on Feb 10, 2007 7:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
So where do we start? I support the "10 For 10 Solution" to American dependence on imported fossil fuel. This promotes reducing our use of imported oil by 10% per year for 10 consecutive years through increased use of energy conservation technology and alternate energy generation technology. Much of this goal is achievable by increasing the use of EXISTING off-the-shelf technology. The remainder will come from new technology that is under development. While it is true we lack the political will on the national level to support this goal, there is much we each can do individually, locally, and regionally to support it. ( Without trying very hard, I have reduced my electricity and natural gas use by about 40% in six years by weatherproofing and insulating my 180 year old house, and by installing new windows, switching to flourescent light bulbs, buying more energy efficient applicances, and nagging my housemates to be more conscious of turning off lights and electronics when not in use. By the way--isn't it time for someone to manufacture a residential scale co-generation unit so we all can generate electricity AND heat our houses with the same BTU's?) These local solutions to this global problem need not wait for political support. Most are cost effective now. To be sure, lifestyles will change as the cost of fossil fuel and global warming increase, but we are a clever people. We will adapt, thrive, and prosper. So, what will you do this year to reduce your use of imported fossil fuel by 10%?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» The time is now Posted by: Leadbyexample
» RE: The time is now Posted by: UncleBuck
First we need to become a WE
Posted by: daw13 on Feb 10, 2007 7:30 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Kunstler's recommendations, and virtually every comment assumes that the citizenry will be fine if WE will simply adjust our behavior appropriately. The problem is there is no WE and has not been for a long time -- William Greider's message in Who Will Tell the People, a must read still for anyone serious about creating a politically effective citizenry.

Without a WE, or even any real Left, it seems most likely that the paradigm shift indicated by Kuntzler will be managed entirely by THEM -- the very well organized Powers That Be. This transition will be facilitated by citizens passively continuing to do what we are individually doing until all systems are in place (FEMA as police force, the Patriot Act, Homeland Security and a packed Supreme Court as the backbone of a new Justic System, a hugher more ruthless prison system) to deal with our dis-organized discomfort when the rug is suddenly pulled out from under the lot of us (some Middle East incident sending gas prices to $10 or $15 a gallon overnight) and most people find ourselves pretty much on the streets and up for grabs.

In-the-works company towns like those already serving John Deer in the Midwest, built by U.S. and Asian manufacturers to which those of us who choose to do so can be transported one-way only in packed buses, to live in tiny apartments (no A-C) in condos a short mass-transit ride from our workplace -- assembly line plants with 11-15 hour a day shifts at maybe $8 per hour, providing prison-quality health care and no other benefits. Of course people can refuse this largess and take their chances confronting urban gangs or the most powerful police force in history, who will pretty much ignore the gangs.

This, I'm afraid, is a somewhat more realistic picture than Mr. Kuntzler paints -- unless citizens can finally become a WE. This means coalescing and boiling up leadership not presently invident among the candidates running for office in either (or any) political party.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Apparently the Biggest Oil User is Untouchable
Posted by: rwa on Feb 10, 2007 7:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This writer wants us to question everything but the military. In fact militarism is the most environmentally destructive element we face.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» Peak Oil Posted by: UncleBuck
» RE: Peak Oil and the military Posted by: UncleBuck
Prophetic Question
Posted by: biochemurgic on Feb 10, 2007 9:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All the changes we make now in preparation for peak oil are really moves in the direction of national security. We are slow learners in this regard, as witness this quote from 1936: “They say we have foreign oil. Well, how are we going to get it in case of war? It is in Venezuela, it is out in the east in Persia, and it is in Russia. Do you think that is much defense for your children?”

A prescient question in light of our current friction, 71 years later, with those very countries (Persia, is of course, Iran). The