Red State Green

It’s funny how you get involved in something.

I started organic gardening a few years after I bought my first home, back in the early 90’s. This was mainly for fun and to have some homegrown vegetables. My husband was interested in making rock terraces and he made me some wonderful planters.

Later, I learned about pesticides and how they affect people, and I got rid of all of them on my property. But I was never really an environmentalist. It was mostly for health reasons.

In the same way, I was doing some research on alternative health and found out the health differences between grass-fed beef and regular beef, so I switched there. (just had my cholesterol panel done, btw, and my doctor said it was ‘excellent’)

Since I was a kid, people have been talking about climate change and how we need to ’save the planet’. My attitude was that conservation is a good idea on general principles, but always thought the tone of the arguments was too preachy. So although I recycled (they gave us a bin for that in CA, so it wasn’t a big deal) I never got into it like a lot of people do. I had work to go to, and kids to raise, and my own issues.

It was when I did some research for a novel I was writing that I came across the concept of peak oil. (go scan the article if you have no idea what that means, before you read further)

Apparently, the oil companies have known about peak oil since the 1950’s, and US oil production indeed peaked in 1970. We’re still pumping oil, but less every year. Just about every country in the world is in a similar situation, except for some of the Middle Eastern countries and a few others, like Nigeria and Venezuela, who came to their oil fields late in the game.

The reason I mention this is that I think I’ve gone about this blog backwards. I think that some of the comments here indicate that people don’t have a clue about what’s going on in the world, that they’ve just listened to news shows that tell part of the story.

The misadventures of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton gets ratings, telling people about issues that you have to think a bit about doesn’t. From some of the comments reporters make, I’m not sure they even grasp what’s going on.

But if you understand the oil situation, it all makes sense. Why we’re in Iraq (and why the Congress doesn’t really want us to leave), why gas prices are increasing, why food prices are increasing, why some people are so very concerned about the housing/credit situation, why the stock market is acting strangely.

So while climate change might be worth paying attention to, I think we’ve got a much more immediate problem. Like a fool who wins the lottery, we’re (globally) spending oil hand over fist. The US is the worst offender. One of these days, we’ll want to spend more than we can pump out of the ground and refine at one time.

Oh! we’ll say, when a gas station runs out, or the price of air flights or food or plastic gadgets shoots up. It’ll seem like a big surprise.

That’s when it’ll be news, and by then it will be too late to do much about it. Because oil runs everything. We’ll be forced to cut back then, us with our weak flabby bodies that can’t walk or bike far and our SUV’s that no one will want because they get such bad gas mileage.

It’ll be news because for fifty years no one has made it news before this.

So if you think I’m being alarmist, that’s fine. It’s one way to tune out news that you don’t know how to handle. I hope you have friends willing to help when the storm hits and you’re unprepared.

But if somehow this sparks your interest, learn more for yourself. Don’t take my word for it. Examine every road you drive, every piece of plastic you buy, every gallon that goes into your car. Because in our lifetimes (unless you’re very old or very unlucky) these things are going to become much more precious.