For Our NEXT Apocalypse...
I don't know about all of you, but every day, whenever I pick up the paper or watch what passes for "news" on the TV, I am confronted by Chicken Little. Now this quaint fowl might come in a myriad of forms, but the message is ALWAYS the same...the SKY IS FALLING.
Record high fuel prices - a tsunami of food shortages - record foreclosure rates - wheat crops at an all time low...at every turn we're bombarded by situations that hearken back to those science fiction films that depicted a world depleted of resources, with scraggly bands of humanity, attempting to hold onto their last vestige OF that humanity, while protecting what minuscule resources remain.
I'm talking about the MAD MAX movies.
The way the news depicts things, we're certainly headed in that direction.
Still, there may be a glimmer of hope for us all...if we pay attention.
I've stated time and again (here) about this domino effect regarding the fuel situation, so it's not as though all of you weren't ready for it. Perhaps if England would have NOT bowed out of the Middle East after WW2, but kept those territories it claimed a few centuries ago, a lot of this COULD have been avoided. We'll never know NOW, will we?
Oh believe me, there is PLENTY of "what if" to go around.
~What if we decided to drill for more oil HERE?
~What if we had relied on NUCLEAR power a lot more and a lot sooner?
~What if the 1970s oil embargo really DID make an impression on U.S. auto makers?
~What if we didn't ALL jump on the ethanol bandwagon at once?
~What if Americans had never embraced the SUV/minivan craze?
You see? Plenty to go around....and so many more I'm sure you can think of.
And I didn't EVEN mention Global Climate Change...yet.
The oil companies have not built ANY new refineries in OVER THIRTY YEARS. The nuclear power industry...ditto. Car companies have thumbed their noses at economy, instead opting for "creature comforts" that sap power and consume fuel at a rate rivalling the 300+ horsepower monstrosities under the hoods of our vehicles. Makes me happy my little 2.8 Liter V-6 only has 115 BHP. We've RAISED the speed limits on our highways, only to find that the truckers can no longer MAINTAIN those speeds do to THEIR fuel consumption woes. Expect the limit to DROP...and soon, back to "double nickels" (where it should be).
The environmentalists have not ALLOWED any new drilling for oil in areas that might very well fill our needs. One thing I do find mildly amusing, is that most ALL the major oil-producing nations have some sort of ongoing unrest attached to them, whether it's Venezuela, Nigeria, or anywhere in the Middle East.
Auto manufacturers have also seen fit to produce vehicles that are basically disposable. The days when mechanics actually FIXED cars to keep them on the road are dying faster than people in Darfur. Better to swap it out than fix it, and that applies to most ANYTHING these days. But that is only an adjunct to this much greater problem.
Can you imagine how things "could" wind up in say 20 years, if nothing turns around and gets better?
Like I said...MAD MAX.
I plan to go out this weekend and get my wife and I some LOCKING FILLER CAPS for our cars. It only take several minutes to siphon the fuel from your tank (thanks to a portable drill, "pump" bit attachment, and a container for the gas). No more using a hose and your mouth...no sir. That's "old school". And don't think it won't start happening (pssst... it has already). Every time you're in some parking lot at some store, another person might be casing the lot, looking for that crime of opportunity. Doesn't take much smarts to figure out who's tank is FULL...a tap in the right place gives it all away.
And of course, it will begin in "poverty-ridden" areas and then spread outward like a plague, until it hits the "riches", and after they piss and moan, something might get done (as usual).
Here's a very intersting link:
http://www.gastheft.com/
Some good stuff here...and it's all too true.
If there is a silver lining to this cloud, it's that most stores DO have security cameras for the lots, so gas thefts will quickly be relegated to the street level (as is our thriving drug trade here).
Still...although I, like everyone else feels the pinch of higher EVERYTHING these days, I am going to get a tad pissed when someone says to me (on TV)..."You have to CUT BACK". My frugality is running on empty as it is (pun intended), so please tell me HOW the hell I'm supposed to notch my belt tighter when the price of leather is so high I can't afford the damn belt in the first place, not to mention that PETA would be all over my ass? You want me to go "Jethro", and use a chunk of rope?
Seriously, having grown up with not all that much, It's made me aware of taking care of what I DO have, and to not frivolously spend, waste, or throw away. My wife and I live within our means, and only spend when needed. There is the (once in a blue moon) spree, but it's like a reward for doing so well the rest of the time...and we ALL need that.
Someone once said (and I know my DAD said this a lot) that: "Things just HAVE to get better, because they sure as hell can't get much WORSE". Well, sorry Dad...but they CAN get worse, and most likely will...for a time.
Perhaps it's what we all need...some shortages, perhaps a dose of RATIONING, and some humility tossed in for good measure to wean us from this dependency of "things" we've long taken for granted and blown our collective noses on. Then we can all get back to working TOGETHER the way we used to.
Yeah, that sounds Utopian, right? But it's when people all pull together that things do get done.
Those that lived during the depression and WW2 made it through OK. Sure, they sacrificed, and maybe that's what WE ALL need to do. But we also need to do what we have to so we at least have a better future.
All the alternative fuel people (the "air" engine and the "water" engine and the fuel cell tech) need to take priority, along with solar and wind technology. We also need to move some of these environmentalists aside for the time being...the planet will still be here in a century or so.
Be nice to look back some day and watch everyone drive by in their hydrogen/air/water/solar-powered vehicles...while I pull up to the pump and fill up with some 93 octane fuel...that costs less than $1.50 a gallon because so many people have been weaned off of gasoline and the oil companies still need some profit any way they can get it.
Nice dream.
And like Dad used to say:
"If you're going to dream...dream BIG".