Monday, December 11

when the party's over ... turn on the light

can't wait until the day oil runs low!

I will be eating local apples in winter instead of oranges from Brazil. Do you understand how much fossil fuel is consumed to transport an orange 5000 miles? I don't. But I figure it takes more calories than a single orange will freely offer for such transportation costs.

Also, fighter plains would lack fuel and rust their 700 million dollar bodies away in a hangar, or on a boat docked somewhere. No more flying killing machines.

Governments would shrink rapidly to a more comfortable size because centralized control and power over people would seize to be of importance. Oil drives the present "globalized Wirtschaftswunder" and is the propellant to ever increasing greed to insure more profit in the next quarter.

Without oil, the abundance we presently still are accustomed to, some Arab countries would be forced to heat their houses with camel dung again and reopen trade-routes through the desert, bartering dates and olives - and not AK-47's. No more "arabphobia" then, everybody would be busy to make ends meet on a local level.

Israel would have to reconsider its purpose of existence and come to terms with border issues and water rights.

Palestinians would have to stop killing each other for some ludicrous convictions that one party is better than the other.

Lebanon would find peace in the plenty of it's resources and commit to "self-interest" rather than "abroad-interest"

Russia would give a shit about Chechnya and go back to "her motherland"

China would understand that cheap products can't swamp the world anymore and would have to plant more rice again.

India would have to figure out the magic of birth control since their population is going to be larger than China in 2012.

Australia, I don't know - they were always self sufficient since the beginning of their not so glorious past.

Africa on the other hand is a complete mystery to me. I don't know if things could even become worse as they are today if the oil runs out. Maybe our compassion ... nah, I don't want to go there tonight.

And then we have Europe and Japan. Both insular in their own ways. What will they do when the oil runs out?
Maybe they will invest in technology that will bridge the gap.

I know the United States of America is not even close of thinking and investing in such an endeavor.

So when the party is over, and the recourses and resources dwindle - light up a candle and think about what is happening in a positive way.
Maybe by working more locally and abandoning global routes as the sole profit making platform, we might even start to understand people we are close to, better again - and thereby survive and overcome the oblivious posture of self-destructive behavior we hang on so happily these days. The end of oil could be a blessing ... turn on the light!

7 comments:

Max and Me said...

i like the way you think zee. every seemingly small thing you do makes a difference.

when you write i feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. let others share it with you.

Zee said...

Thanks for your kind words Meander!

Mounir said...

Nicely and beautifully said

Madcap said...

Petroleum is literally fuelling the fires of war. I'm pessimistic tonight, though; I'm wondering if it dried up if we'd just have lots of small local wars. Blah. So much lost, so many hours and lives that could have been lost in the pursuit of beauty, lost in war instead.

Anyway, like you say, it'll be interesting to see what changes are coming down in the next decade or five.

Anonymous said...

chinese can build "human chains" around the world, and pass hand to hand their cheap products around the globe.

Anonymous said...

And i won't have to drive to Hartford. P

Zee said...

Thanks P. ..... and Happy Christmas!