Knowing the Source

The Drying Oil Well

There is a wonderful article in the LA Times today about the possibility and effects of $200/barrel oil in America, which you can read here.  One of the obvious effects would be to keep persons closer to their homes, which in LA is a fundamental shift in the nature of the city.  As Michael Woo, a current member of the LA Planning Commission, acknowledges, LA has grown on the assumption of cheap energy resources (i.e. - the ability to drive far away from home and across town to work).  Consequently, "Sky-high gas prices 'would basically reorient society to where proximity would be more valuable,' said Tom Gilligan, finance professor at USC.

The reality of oil consumption limiting how we operate as a country and as individuals seems hard to ignore, but it seems even harder to imagine.  We have been so blessed with so much that our living is characterized by "blind" consumption.  We - I included - don't know a great deal about the nature of our energy resources:  where they come from, how they are produced, what affects their price (this also goes for all the other products, services, and food that also come to us magically and easily from great distances as a result of cheap oil).

Bill Moyer's Journal on PBS last night closed with a great commentary by Moyer regarding the current Iraq war and the role oil played in it (watch it here).   The short of it includes that the four big oil companies have recently been rewarded no bid contracts to re-enter Iraq, after thirty plus years of being evacuated by rising nationalism and Saddam's raise to power.

But, I really don't think we can point the finger at Washington or the White House or big corporations, not at least until we point the finger right back at ourselves.  The fact is it is hard to shift behavior, to change, and we would prefer to remain in the ignorance and beauty of being able to pump cheap gas into our cars without having to think about how it got there.  Until we change our consumption habits, how can we blame other people for giving us what we demand? 

The reality of how we are living cannot be hidden forever.  It - unlike oil - will continue to emerge.  And the fact of the matter is that we have untied ourselves from local communities and local markets.  We have outsourced our living and life.  We've lived high on the hog a good while now.  But, change is here.  Maybe not $200/barrel gasoline, but reality is setting in and people are getting to know the source of oil fairly well these days.  Or, better yet, we're getting to know the lack of sources of oil these days.

Wes