Wednesday, February 11, 2004

The end of Cheap Oil and the devastation to follow

So, there are people who say the world is running out of oil, and that the oil will become more and more expensive to mine. The ultimate results would be dire. We would lose pretty much all of the productivity and production capability we've gained since the 1700's. Food production would be crippled by the loss of inexpensive oil, and thousands, millions, billions could die.

And I get to be part of the generation that would see it happen. Great.

In the context of a contracting oil supply Bush's "War on Terror" becomes more a war for survival to give the US control of the scant Oil reserves left in the world.

It's all pretty depressing, as it means my kids (when I have some) would stand a good chance of starving to death, or be killed off in a global war.

Alternate fuel sources are not rolled out to the scale where they would be necessary to sustain us through the collapse of oil, and it may already be too late to ramp up and install the necessary infrastructure.

And of course, the Baby Boomers who have helped ignore the problem for so long will be dying off from old age when the worst happens. Gen X, Y and "Why Me" aren't much better, as we're a bunch of whiners fostering the culture of victimization, and we aren't doing much more to develop alternate fuel sources and agricultural methods.

Naturally, there are plenty of people who think the whole idea is for the tinfoil hat crowd.

Welcome to the end of the world friends.

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