In today’s Washington Post, James Howard Kunstler does an intervention on our magical thinking as we’re confronted with a new paradigm, about energy, transportation, living arrangements and even food:
Everywhere I go these days, talking about the global energy predicament
on the college lecture circuit or at environmental conferences, I hear
an increasingly shrill cry for "solutions." This is just another
symptom of the delusional thinking that now grips the nation,
especially among the educated and well-intentioned.I say this because I detect in this strident plea the desperate wish
to keep our "Happy Motoring" utopia running by means other than oil and
its byproducts. But the truth is that no combination of solar, wind and
nuclear power, ethanol, biodiesel, tar sands and used French-fry oil
will allow us to power Wal-Mart, Disney World and the interstate highway system — or even a fraction of these things — in the future. We have to make other arrangements.The public, and especially the mainstream media, misunderstands the
"peak oil" story. It’s not about running out of oil. It’s about the
instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as soon
as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply…
Wow – Kunstler in the WaPo. Things must really be heating up…
One of the many problems with Americans “hearing” this news is that for seven years, we’ve become so bombarded with fear tactics, that many of us have stopped listening.
When greed is constantly rewarded and the expression of new ideas are squelched in government, civilian and corporate life, nothing will ever change.
Good leaders that govern with reason instead of fear would give the American public not only the needed information, but also guide them in what they can do about it.
Change can be accomplished if citizens are given the opportunity to participate at the grassroots level as well as from a grander top-down approach.
One more article that tells us all what insensitive gluttons we all are won’t do the trick.
Jon: thought you might like to see this: it’s a step in the right direction:
https://current.com/items/88980747_drop_in_driving_steepest_on_record