I just started reading the book "Long Emergency" the other day and I am most of the way through it already. It is by far the most terrifying thing I have ever read. I can't sleep right now because I have so many thoughts running through my head.
What should I do first? Learn to make butter? Learn to sew? Buy a gun? Who will I be able to trust if society starts breaking down? Even if I do learn to make butter, how will I get myself a cow?
I keep trying to convince myself that I'm just being paranoid after reading one little 'doomsday' book. People have been crying wolf since ... well, Aesop's time, at least. (Although if I recall correctly, the wolf actually does come eventually in that story.) But unfortunately, I don't see any fallacies in the author's reasoning. We do depend on oil to move cars, trucks, airplanes, ships, etc. We need oil for fertilizer, for plastic, for operating heavy machinery that does important things for us like drilling/mining/pumping... who knows what else.
Everyone else definitely thinks I'm crazy. They don't use the word 'crackpot' but they use the word 'survivalist' which I'm pretty sure is synonymous. My roommate laughed today when I told him about peak oil. He said, "So what? We can't drive? We'll just have to walk to the grocery store." Too bad the grocery store is going to be empty.
I had no idea how much I liked our current way of life until yesterday. I don't want a future with no caramel macchiatos, no pomegranate apple sauce, no sushi. We won't be able to drive 2 hours to go skiing, and even if we could, there would be no fuel to run the ski lifts. Obviously vacations to Costa Rica or Hawaii would be right out.
I really hope that my handy ADD allows me to forget about this nonsense soon. At least in the meantime there is one bright side to all of my stressing. I am looking around at this world with wide-eyed wonder. I am staring at my box of tissues in complete disbelief. Tissues are disposable pieces of paper used for blowing your nose. The box is decorated with pink flowers. They must have been designed on a computer, because they look so perfect.
Today for dinner we went to Kidd Valley and I had a mushroom and swiss cheeseburger and a diet coke. It was so delicious. I love diet coke so much.
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5 comments:
You live in Seattle, silly; you aren't going to have to worry about a world without applesauce OR sushi. Or caramel macchiatos, either, probably.
I, on the other hand, will be lucky just to get the applesauce; I'll probably have to settle for prickly pear sauce, to be honest.
Are you a crackpot? Hell, no. Paranoid? Yea, kinda ;)
There are plenty of people who are aware of the facts of Peak Oil and preparing in their own ways.
A lot of them seem to think that running out to no where and buying a farm is the answer, I don't think so.
Don't get depressed but be aware of what petroleum makes and allow yourself to adjust when changes come.
Nobody knows exactly how much oil is left under ground or, when we'll peak. But, we do know that burning and using the stuff for everything from plastic to aspirin is creating an eco-mess.
Even if we could keep using crude oil at the rate we are for another 40 or 50 years, would we really want to?
Check out the Transition Town movement for some positive vibe on intentionally powering down
www.prelitz.com
Hey guys,
thanks for the moral support! :)
Marti, you're totally right, the Pac NW is definitely a great place to be. If nothing else we can all grab some fishing poles and head to lake Washington or the Puget Sound.
Greenguru - it's ironic that I'm so worried now because I've been calling myself an environmentalist for a long time. I'm all for people consuming less, walkable communities, etc. I guess when it really comes down to it though I'd rather see us keep polluting vs. a total breakdown of society complete with violence, starvation, and other human sufferings.
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