Great Profits, Oil, and Us
The news this morning of a 49% profit increase for Chevron is sure to enrage a lot of people today. This obviously is due to the dramatic increase of gas prices in the latest weeks, but what is the excuse for this, why are oil companies recording record profits while our gas prices are going up and soccer moms around the country are paying $70 to fill up their huge SUV's.
What you aren't being told from the majority of the mainstream media, and what most oil companies are keeping secret is the coming oil crisis. We are reaching a critical time in our society, where supply is getting much closer to being shorter than demand, this is called peak oil.
Remember in the seventies (I don't, I wasn’t born yet) when we had a similar problem and gas prices went through the roof. That was because at the time a majority of our oil supplies came from our country, and our demand was too much for our supply. What was the solution; get more oil from the rest of the world. Well this time the supply from the rest of the world is getting too small from the still increasing demand. This means there is no chance of going back; as long as our demand keeps increasing we will never see lower gas prices.
What are the solutions, what will replace oil, what about the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge?
I'll start with the refuge. It's true that there are billions of barrels worth of oil up in Alaska, but before you sign on you should know some things:
-At our current rate of demand the oil would only last about 6 months before it was depleted
-On average after oil is found it takes 10 years before it's actually usable and we will see it in our gas tanks
-over 1,000 scientists say that the effect on the caribou could be tremendous, forcing thousand to migrate to other areas where they are much less likely of surviving
This would be a short term solution at best.
So what are the solutions? I'll summarize it in three words, "There aren't any". This actually isn't totally true. Most likely we will have to find a combination of alternative energies, but there is not one single alternative energy that scientists have found that can meet our current demands.
What does this mean? It means that we have to curb our consumption of almost everything. Corporations like Wal-Mart that rely on wide distribution are going to be in huge economic troubles, which means higher prices, which means that you will have to stop buying all of the useless shit that you get from there. We will see ourselves coming together again in our communities, start growing some of our own fruits and vegetables, and maybe learning a lesson or two about the environment.
The peak in oil isn't coming, no, it's here already and we have to get ready for some possible changes to the way we live our lives.
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2 comments:
It's been said by Bush's administration just as the war in Iraq started that this war with the middle east would go on for our entire generation, the oil could be why.
Sal, first I just wanted to say that you write very well. I am highly impressed at not only your grammatical correctness, quality of form and coherence of thought, but also with your style.
Am I rubbing off on you?
Good stuff, by the way, let's go live in a commune again!
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