The end of oil

There is a lot of talk about when and if the planet will run out of oil and what the consequences will be.

It came to me the other day that the "oil era" will be just a tiny blip in history (maybe less than 100 years) and the "end of oil" will just mean "getting back to normal". I suppose those of us old enough to remember a neighbour who still used horse and buggy to get around, and horse-drawn milk delivery on the streets of Calgary will see things a bit differently than you young folks born into the peak of the oil age, who therefore think that it is normal.

There's a Saudi saying that said it best: "My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet-airplane. His son will ride a camel."

Not that we need to go all the way back. During the oil-blip we've made huge strides in building energy-efficient housing, high-efficiency wood and coal burning stoves, solar and wind technology. The end of oil won't mean the end of the electrical grid, though we should expect a severe cut-back. (Anyone know what proportion of our electricity is produced by burning petroleum?)

Survival at the end of oil is clearly possible, but there are ways in which things will be majorly different.

Food: we'll have to get back to producing food locally and preserving it for the winter. The era of importing fresh fruits and vegetables from California (and beef from Alberta or Texas) will be over.

Travel: the era of being able to go anywhere in the world with relative ease will be over. See the world while you still can.

Amongst the links you can find with a google search is this one which is more constructive than scary: http://www.survivingpeakoil.com/index.php

For us old folks who will probably be gone before the crisis hits, the best thing we can do make sure our kids understand the situation. (And don't throw out our old copies of "Mother Earth News". Pass them on.)