--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> >That would be one good consequence. The price of
> alternative energy
> >would also fall (relatively); that would be another
> good consequence.
>
> Some of this talk reminds me of Stanley Aronowitz on
> the end of work
> - he wanted to see as inevitable what was really his
> own preference.
> It's going to take political work to change our
> oil-based energy
> system; I doubt Hubbert's peak will be up to the
> task alone.
There some seem to be a bit of milleniumism surrounding some reactions to the peak oil thing. It reminds me a bit of the way the Y2K scare seemed to be a Roschach test for how generally secure you felt -- some looked forward to having to cooperate with their neighbors, others seemed to look forward to retreating to their cabin in the woods and waiting with a gun to fend off the rampaging hordes of hungry "urban" ex-welfare recipients.
So now you hear about the rise of organic agriculture, Kunstler's long-desired death of suburbia, after of course the coming age of tribulations. I would love nothing more than for the powers that be to wake up, realize we got, say, several years of cheap oil to get things in gear -- building railroads down the center of all those expressways, providing subsidization for converting to non-petroleum based fertilizers, encouraging high-density development of five-story housing, no more, no less, and urban apartments over retail stores filled with hemp and organic cotton clothes.
Fat chance. I figure crash programs, rush jobs, and general suckage for most.
Stock up on your leather chaps, spiked collars, and armor-plated dunebuggies! Whoopee!
Andy
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