For some time now things have been good for the media. Every day they get an easy story just by reporting on gas prices and then going out to find people (usually people who drive SUVs, minivans or Hummers) to complain about them. Personally I'm tired of the whining. Gas prices aren't coming down folks, not ever. They may dip a bit, only to rise even more but for the most part the trend will continue to be up and up. What's more everyone who was paying attention has known this day was coming for 30 years - since the oil crunch of the 70s. It's called peak oil:
"Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically."What's more increasing energy prices are just the tip of the iceberg - anything imported is going to start going up in price, the farther away it's imported from, the higher the price will go. Ultimately all of this will be a good thing. It will, hopefully, lead to less fuel consumption which is good for the environment. Once import prices begin to climb it will mean more local jobs, including (probably) manufacturing jobs and it will finally force governments and business to get serious about alternative fuel research.
But high fuel prices are just a reality. People will have to start living closer to where they work, shop and send their kids to school. They will have to begin making use of public transit and they will have to buy more fuel efficient cars, many will have to ultimately give up personal automobiles altogether. This is just reality, we've known it was coming, and now it's here and there is nothing anyone (not government, the oil companies, the Saudi's or anyone else) can or will do about it.
Just wait until Alberta is forced to shut down the oil sands then things will really get interesting.
Image borrowed from lucsnetguide.com (who seems to think that the US has high gas prices - even though they are amoung the lowest in the world.)
2 comments:
I personally hate when people write things like this, because it seems to have the same effect as whispering the word "recession" has on the economy.
But yeah, I can see your point. Hope is so passe.
I would never say that hope is passe. But at this point oil prices are a reality and a reality that nothing is going to change. You can be hopeful, even optimistic but you have to be optimistic within the confines of reality. People have to start figuring out how they are going to adjust to the new reality and stop trying to figure out who to blame for it.
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