That was really interesting, thanks Phil! To be honest, I skimmed over much of it. But I got the idea of what's going to happen. You know, depending on where you live, this doesn't have to be seen as a catastrophe. Our ancestors survived without the kind of things that will go. It may take a lot of adjusting, but for the best in the end. Take this paragraph:
"Big deal. If gas prices get high, I’ll just drive less. Why should I give a damn?"
Because petrochemicals are key components to much more than just the gas in your car. As geologist Dale Allen Pfeiffer points out in his article entitled, "Eating Fossil Fuels," approximately 10 calories of fossil fuels are required to produce every 1 calorie of food eaten in the US.
The size of this ratio stems from the fact that every step of modern food production is fossil fuel and petrochemical powered:
1. Pesticides are made from oil;
2. Commercial fertilizers are made from ammonia, which is
made from natural gas, which will peak about 10 years
after oil peaks;
3. With the exception of a few experimental prototypes, all
farming implements such as tractors and trailers are
constructed and powered using oil;
4. Food storage systems such as refrigerators are
manufactured in oil-powered plants, distributed across
oil-powered transportation networks and usually run on
electricity, which most often comes from natural gas or
coal;
5. In the US, the average piece of food is transported
almost 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. In
Canada, the average piece of food is transported 5,000
miles from where it is produced to where it is consumed.
In short, people gobble oil like two-legged SUVs.
It's surely a
good thing that this can't happen anymore! In Europe we have similar problems but not as bad I would think. Good health makes our brains more easily pleased. However you feel generally, if your food was fresh and organic, you'd be healthier and therefore happier than now. And more intelligent. And less likely to have children with all kinds of neurological disorders. There must be a reason for the rise in things like autism, and in things like infertility, and by going back to a situation where food is real, the air is clean, certain health risks from modern medicine are gone (I've read things... there are more than most think), and we walk more and exercise more, we may find ourselves needing less trips to the doctor anyway. It'd be back to that old romantic time Thoughtless was talking about. I could live without technology for that
Really, there's no point worrying about things like this. Prepare, yes. But worrying doesn't help anyone. Just think, if you die tomorrow you'll have spent your last day worrying about something that still might not happen, and that you couldn't have done anything about.
Sorry, I'm not very good at cheering people up... :roll:
