While doing some research for an essay on the Industrial Revolution and its effects on our lives, I got to thinking about what would happen if we ran out of oil today. As it turns out it’s a scary thought. We are far more dependent on oil than any one of us cares to admit.
The following list is just some of the products that, without oil, we would not have. Nearly everything in our lives is made from oil, made by machinery and systems dependent on oil, and transported by oil as either gas or diesel fuel. Check off all the items you can do without if we ran out of oil.
Ammonia, Anesthetics, Antihistamines, Artificial limbs, Artificial Turf, Antiseptics, Aspirin, Auto Parts, Awnings, Balloons, Ballpoint pens, Bandages, Beach Umbrellas, Boats, Cameras, Candles, Car Battery Cases, Carpets, Caulking, Combs, Cortisones, Cosmetics, Crayons, Credit Cards, Curtains, Deodorants, Detergents, Dice, Disposable Diapers, Dolls, Dyes, Eye Glasses, Electrical Wiring Insulation, Faucet Washers, Fishing Rods, Fishing Line, Fishing Lures, Food Preservatives, Food Packaging, Garden Hose, Glue, Hair Coloring, Hair Curlers, Hand Lotion, Hearing Aids, Heart Valves, Ink, Insect Repellant, Insecticides, Linoleum, Lip Stick, Milk Jugs, Nail Polish, Oil Filters, Panty Hose, Perfume, Petroleum Jelly, Rubber Cement, Rubbing Alcohol, Shampoo, Shaving Cream, Shoes, Toothpaste, Trash Bags, Upholstery, Vitamin Capsules, Water Pipes, Yarn
Living without oil would be, to me, a lot more traumatic to think about now.
Last year mankind was introduced to a new concept, “peak oil”. It envisions a future no one is prepared for. Yeah, we are researching alternative sources of energy but we are not under any deadline to replace our dependence on oil. We simply do not know when the oil wells will run dry. Without this knowledge, we do not feel the urgency to begin to earnestly replace oil as our major energy source.
Of course, life must go on and since mankind has conditioned itself to always move forward into a more powerful future, slowing down is not an option. Only when one of these alternative energy sources can at least equal the power we get from petroleum at the same or cheaper cost will we consider dropping oil from our list of ‘must haves’. The promise of potential fortunes must be real before investments will be shifted from oil to less-polluting, cleaner renewable energy sources. It’s just a fact of life.
The first step in any plan to replace oil is to know how much is left. It is one of the most challenging issues facing our future survival. That sounds a bit dire, I must admit, but there are very few people who wish to go back to pre-industrial days, no matter how successful of self-sufficient their home-grown lifestyle is.
Make no mistake, oil will run out. Will it happen in our life times? In our children’s life times or further on down the road. It truly does not matter what the answer is, we simply cannot burn through it as though we are the only generation who needs it.
How Much is Left?
The prevailing estimate is that, at our current rate of consumption, we will run out of oil around 2030 and natural gas in the year 2060. Switching all fossil-fuel dependent industries from oil to natural gas will only buy us another 30 years, if these estimates are accurate. What is they turn out to be overly optimistic? That’s the danger in guessing.
As we get closer to these target dates, the world powers are going to escalate their aggressive pursuit of it for themselves. Can we learn to play nice and share. Given the last performance over the last several thousand years I think we all know the answer to that question. But, who will ‘win’. And if there is a ‘winner’ how much more time or they truly winning?
I am painting a very frightening picture here. But I believe we are already experiencing a third World War. The energy war if you so choose to call it, but a world war just the same. Everyone is invited but clearly the vast majority of countries are far too powerless to participate on their own. And if oil should be found in the backyard of some small previously unnoticed country, woe be unto them. We only need to look at Iraq to see what the future would hold for them.
We are so deeply invested in the pursuit of more oil that the cost of extracting oil from sand and shale is considered ‘worth it’. Despite the proven side effects of water consumption (which is also running out) and waste production (the pollution of our water tables). Realistically, how much oil can be found in these two sources? The answer to this question alone should drive home the desperation we are experiencing in our need for fossil fuels.
What is being done to encourage research in renewable energy?
We need to replace our dependency on fossil fuels now. To ignore this plea is to condemn the world population to a very bleak future.
I am perplexed as to why this nation’s population so readily accepts higher gas prices while investing our dollars in vehicles that suck it up faster than at any time in our past. New vehicles have become only slightly more fuel efficient but more and more consumers are buying bigger and beefier vehicles than ever before. Do we really need these monster trucks? And car manufacturers are more than happy to assist in our blissful ignorance as we race towards the bottom of the well.
Whenever the driving public is asked if they are going to change their driving habits due to higher gas prices, they almost smugly say they are not and auto sales figures are sadly backing this up. I don’t understand, is this a show of bravado that says I can afford it so I will pay it?
What about the higher prices for everything that is made from petroleum? Is middle America so complacent and smug in their ability to pay the price that we just do so while they silently complain of the lower quality we are forced to accept?
Be it arrogance or hopelessness in our ability to change anything, paying higher prices without voicing our discontent about it is damaging all of us.
There are several private enterprises who are taking the lead in production of products that do not require non-renewable fossil fuel. These forward-thinking individuals should have the full backing of our federal government. They should be hindered in any way in reaching their goal.
What will happen if we don’t replace fossil fuel?
Industrialized nations who are most fully invested in fossil fuel usage will take over nations with fossil fuel reserves. We could soon see a polarizing effect where smaller nations will alignment themselves with the power elite. What will this balance look like? It is anyone’s guess. The United Nations has become ineffective in its peacekeeping role that they will most likely be disbanded out of sheer frustration.
As people the world over will be unable to pay higher prices for manufactured goods, employers will begin layoffs and unemployment will increase putting more of a strain on governments or the unemployed will simply be turned out into the streets. Protests, riots and crime will increase which will bring on martial law and the police state so many of us have been warning of for so long.
A repeat of the hysteria that gripped the nation during the cold war is likely to happen. Stockpiling of food, turning away of neighbors who are not taking this situation seriously, weapons being brandished in an attempt to protect yourself from predator scavengers. It will truly get this bad if we don’t initiate a plan to replace our dependency on fossile fuel.
We cannot afford to search for the one perfect replacement for fossil fuels. We need to begin encouraging the increased use of wind energy, solar power, and power storage batteries. Our water delivery system is of the utmost priority. We need to begin building new homes partially underground if not completely underground in order to cut down on energy usage. Keep in mind that natural gas, propane, fuel oil, coal, grid electricity, wood and wood pellets will no longer be available or will become so high priced that we simply will not be able to afford it.
We need to equip ourselves with hand tools and give up all power tools. We need to educate ourselves on building, gardening, food preservation, medical first aid, animal husbandry. Only those people who prepare their minds, bodies, spirit and lifestyle for the change that is becoming more inevitable are going to survive. Take a look around you. The United States of America is not as united as it once was. Our nations leadership has a long range plan to always have access to fossil fuels and the only they are going to have it is to take it. We common people will truly be on our own.
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