You want solutions?
Posted May 30th, 2007 in Culture, The Desk, Energy
Regular readers would know that though it’s a complex and contested idea I have a lot of time for Peak Oil theory. Of course it’s not a question of if we will ever run out of the black stuff, more a question of what can replace it in our lives, and what do we do when it becomes largely unaffordable due to the supply/demand question. We’re in the early stages of answering these questions and looking for solutions.
As an optimist, I like to think we can work something out, and yes cycling is one of those activities that helps, as Sacha Molitorisz discovers in his reading of the zeitgeist.
“Good morning,” said a familiar voice. And there he was, astride a two-wheeler, wearing lycra shorts that shouldn’t have been allowed so close to children. “Sunny autumn days fill me with conviction,” the Zeitgeist said. “They remind me that, in these uncertain times, there is one incontrovertible truth.” That men shouldn’t wear lycra?
“Cycling,” he said. “Petrol prices are high, oil reserves are low and the environment is ailing. The road toll is bad, traffic is a nightmare and Australians are fat and unfit. Aussies are realising cycling is the answer.
But optimism will only get you so far, and as Jim Kunstler says, it can distract you from seeing the real issue clearly. Kunstler is one of my favourite gut checkers, a wonderfully provocative writer who sometimes enrages, but also gets you looking at things in another way.
I encountered this ethos most strikingly a few years back at Middlebury College in Vermont, where angry biodiesel advocates assailed my lack of enthusiasm for their particular “solution” — which seemed geared mainly to allow them to continue to drive their dad’s old cast-off SUVs to the snowboarding venues of that progressive little state. But the wish to keep running all our cars permeates what little public discussion there is of the global warming / energy crisis issues at all levels. Even the elder statesmen of the eco-movement talk it up incessantly. The first great victory will come when they shut up about it and put their minds to other tasks.
I agree with Kunstler, the pervasiveness of motoring culture is distracting, we do need to stop talking about making better cars and start talking about occupying and using the landscape differently. Cycling does that.
Bonus reading. George Monbiot on What if the oil runs out?
technorati tags: cycling, bicycles, peakoil, energy, optimism,
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While it would be nice to think people would willingly make radical changes to the way they live their lives to conserve resources and the environment, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Cycling, for example, is perceived by most people as being too much effort/too dangerous/not “cool” enough(strike out whichever does not apply).
A few people might take it up, but unless a fascist government comes along and forces people into it, it won’t be enough to make a huge difference. And as a cyclist, I’m not sure I want to ride through such an environment everyday. The automobile isn’t going to go away, it will just get more expensive. Those people will still drive their SUV’s no matter what.
When the price of oil rises, people will just make other sacrifices to pay for it. I know someone who used to work in a convenience store and has already seen this happen with cigarettes, and the same will happen when the price of fuel rises, until such time as some other alternative fuel becomes cheaper to produce.
However, everyone has overlooked the main underlying issue in relation to environmental problems — the fact that the global population has more than doubled since 1960. More people means more resources consumed, means more pollution — regardless of how they live.