Peak Oil?

A lot of people are advocating alternative energy sources based only on knowledge of steadily increasing prices of gasoline for powering our cars, natural gas for heating our homes, and electricity -- much of which is generated from fossil fuels. But the Hubbert Peak Theory, or 'Peak Oil', may add some urgency to the hunt for alternate fuels.

In a recent article on AlterNet.org, James Howard Kunstler engages in something of an angry tirade at the American people for their lack of understanding for what he sees clearly as an obvious crisis, as well as their dependence on a lifestyle which he describes as: "an easy-motoring utopia of suburban metroplexes that (makes) incessant driving inevitable". Clearly he has a lot of frustration built up on the issue, but is he justified in lashing out this way?

I personally do not believe so. Yes, I am not a fan of suburban America or the sprawl it produces, and yes, I do believe that Peak Oil is a real threat and that something has to be done about it. But to blast the American public for a lifestyle that was pushed on us by corporate America and the upper class isn't fair. Sure, we are also complecent in the creation of this lifestyle we live, but none of us conjured Wal-mart out of thin air, or presided over the explosion of the American highway system which occured under former GM CEO Charley Wilson, Eisenhower's Commerce Secretary. The lifestyle we live came about because some very powerful people had a stake in creating it.

It is our duty to inform the public as to the dangers of Peak Oil, though. It is our moral responsibility to our descendents: they should have the right to live, consume, be happy -- oil and natural gas are a large part of the synthetic fertilizers and pesticides we use today. They should also have the right, as should people today, of being able to have a family without feeling guilty that they may be bringing them into a world which is worse than the one our generation inherited. Our children should not have to live through food shortages, oil wars, social upheaval, et cetera.

Peak Oil is a dangerous thing, but maybe not as dangerous as some make it seem. For example, Kunstler's gloom and doom view of how events will go down, with predictions such as:

Our suburbs will enter a shocking state of economic and practical failure.

and:

We'd better start paying attention to the signals that reality is sending or we will be living in a very violent, impoverished and demoralized nation.

These things are possible, yes, but not entirely likely. Promoting more research of better quality into replacement energy sources could abate many of these problems. Yes, there will be changes, but hopefully they will be generally positive -- I believe -- and not violent upheavels, die-offs, and what not predicted by some of the direst of Peak Oil advocates.

Worldwide peak oil is predicted to happen this decade, how accurate that prediction is -- or the prediction of worldwide peak oil happening at all -- remains to be seen, some even say it happened back in 2004. In the U.S. our production peaked in 1971. Some of the major oil fields in Mexico and Saudi Arabia have reported evidence which indicates they hit peak last year. Peak oil happens, what the consequences will if it happens worldwide be is entirely up to us.