after oil

Last week, I sent a message to all of my co-workers asking them for any copies of the August 2005 National Geographic. The magazine has an article, FUTURE POWER, and a cover photo of two old "dry" gas pumps with the caption "After Oil". I am going to use the article in my environmental science class. One person who read the article talked to me about how he is very concerned about this topic, even to the point of losing sleep over it. I am sure he is concerned first and foremost about the future world his children are going to grow up in. He was also wondering what people can do about this situation.

Basically, world oil production has peaked, or will do so in the very near future, and every new barrel is going to be more difficult and more expensive to find and extract. We are running out of oil. Oil is the very fabric of the economy and lifestyle we have created. We currently swim in it in many ways. The world, especially the United States, is not prepared for the changes to come. It is going to be a very serious problem, though NOT worth losing sleep over. NOTHING is worth losing sleep over. There are solutions to this problem. Europe is light years ahead of the U.S. in terms of looking towards an oil free future. Even in America, there are pockets of hope.


In Portland, Oregon, a 35 block neighborhood may become the first urban neighborhood to cut itself off of the fossil fuel power grid. (Can you see this happening in Green Bay?)

There are already calls for re-building New Orleans in a sustainable manner.

In Wisconsin, the Citizens Energy Cooperative offers citizens the opportunity to invest in, purchase, and expand the use of renewable energy resources.

Yes! magazine has a great special issue out called "Can We Live Without OIL?" . It offers many ideas and resources for living in an oil-free economy.

Despite what most people think, there is a lot of potential in locally produced alternative energy sources.

Sales of gus-sucking SUVs are finally declining while there are waiting lists for hybrids.


Actually, the "end of oil" gives me reason to be optimistic about our future. The transition is not going to be easy, but can you imagine the future if we did NOT run out of oil? We may finally be FORCED into building sustainable and pollution-free communities.

I saw a powerful movie a couple of weeks ago called "The End of Suburbia" that dealt with these exact issues. It also warns that people are not ready for the "shit-storm" that is about to come and that our over-extended, resource-sucking, petroleum-driven suburbs may indeed become the "slums of the future". If you have not seen it, it is well worth your time. I know that some local libraries have a copy. (And I now have a copy.) Basically, the movie is about how our oil dependency crisis has been caused by our consumptive suburban culture and in order to deal with the end of the age of oil, we need to become a nation of city dwellers and to make our cities places that are enjoyable places to live and work.

The importance of cities is something that environmentalists have realized for a long time. After all, if everyone moved to the country, it wouldn't be the country anymore. Audubon magazine had an article about this topic a couple of years ago called "Real Enviros Live in Town". A huge part of the solution to our most serious environmental problems is to eat (but not meat!), work, shop, grow food, produce energy, and breathe LOCALLY! In order to make this work, our cities need to be exciting places to live and work.

Which brings me to the topic of Green Bay. Local environmentalists (including myself) need to be more concerned about the development of our downtown. Currently, more businesses seem to be leaving the city for suburban profits than coming into our city. This is actually an environmental issue. We need to participate in the downtown development discussion and help Green Bay develop an exciting (And did someone say sustainable?) downtown where people want to hang out and live and work.

thinking of new orleans,
rich