Sometimes you have to have things thrown in your face and your open actions blocked before you will realize things have changed. Unfortunately , it would seem that in this country(US) that is the way the majority of the population changes their minds. So it is no real surprise that almost 30 years (October 17, 1973) after the first warning signs of the dangers of US dependence on foreign oil supplies. That the brutal edge of commodity curves are beginning to force people in the US to reconsider the basis of our modern economy. And that basis has never been our labor force, which has always been relatively small compared to some other countries; it has never really been our natural resources, which while still abundant are something we mostly consume for ourselves; it hasn't even been our educated workforce, which while average has always been second or worse to other educated workforces in the world. No, that basis has been the high availability of domestic cheap energy sources. It is that cheap and plentiful energy that let the US win two world wars, it is that cheap and plentiful energy that let the US become and industrial giant in the last century, and it is that cheap and plentiful energy that raised the American standard of living to average levels it has never been at before, ever.
]]>Sometimes you have to have things thrown in your face and your open actions blocked before you will realize things have changed. Unfortunately , it would seem that in this country(US) that is the way the majority of the population changes their minds. So it is no real surprise that almost 30 years (October 17, 1973) after the first warning signs of the dangers of US dependence on foreign oil supplies. That the brutal edge of commodity curves are beginning to force people in the US to reconsider the basis of our modern economy. And that basis has never been our labor force, which has always been relatively small compared to some other countries; it has never really been our natural resources, which while still abundant are something we mostly consume for ourselves; it hasn't even been our educated workforce, which while average has always been second or worse to other educated workforces in the world. No, that basis has been the high availability of domestic cheap energy sources. It is that cheap and plentiful energy that let the US win two world wars, it is that cheap and plentiful energy that let the US become and industrial giant in the last century, and it is that cheap and plentiful energy that raised the American standard of living to average levels it has never been at before, ever.
Sometimes, it takes hitting the ground hard before you ever realize their was a danger of falling. This is human nature, sort of a habitual subroutine that maximizes our efficiency. If I can achieve action A without worrying about consequence B right away, then I'll get far more done right now and I'll deal with B later. Shortsightedness to improve the short term return at the expense of any long term return. Historically, most societies and civilization have been extremely prone to this sort of nature. In the society of the United States of America, it would seem that not only are we prone to it, as a society we embrace and promote it. So eventually, we will fall down, and the more we try to push off the inevitable the more likely it will be a very hard fall.
So where does that leave us average citizens, you know, you and me, the people who work to improve ourselves so we can raise our families and give our children a life that is as least as good as ours was?
How can we provide a better world for our children when the very foundations of our world are in danger of being destroyed?
]]>