Letters to the Editor
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"So-called peak oil"?
I enjoy your columns very much, and I always find them to bring a refreshing point of view. But I have to call you task on your throwaway line "so-called peak oil". What, exactly, do you not believe about peak oil? That it's not going to occur? That it's not a legitimate factor in environmental debate? Peak oil will occur. I'm not going to argue whether or not we've already reached it, as some contend, or that it's in our near future, but either way, it will have a significant impact on every facet of our lives. If you look around your recycled house, I'm sure you will encounter numerous items (telephones), fabrics (polyester), and essentials (toaster, anyone?) that either are powered by fossil fuel, are made of fossil fuel (plastics), or both. Our entire economy and lifestyle is fueled, made of, and indebted to the existence of cheap fossil fuel. The way we eat, the way we do business, the airplanes you fly, the groceries we buy, the plastic bags we carry them home in - all of it is thanks to fossil fuel.
We've had a great 300 years, and who knows, we may have a couple hundred more, but it's unlikely. Because though we may only just now be approaching peak oil, our use of oil is skyrocketing so dramatically that we'll burn through the equivalent amount of fossil fuel in roughly one third the time. Down and out in a hundred years? Quite possible. But whatever the time frame, we will certainly begin to feel the pinch soon. We've cashed our one-time check of cheap fossil fuel, and there's no replacement fuel, no alternative fuel that is so easily accessible, so quickly turned into energy or product to allow us to sustain our current levels of energy consumption. And our current levels keep rising. We will all feel the pinch. Especially airlines.