You know if the peak oil crowd is right and we have passed or will pass in the near future peak oil production, the debit ceiling hysteria, blathering about Casey Anthony and similar nonsense that passes for news these days will soon be seen for the idiocy it really is. If you are unfamiliar with peak oil it is the notion that as some point we will have used more than half the oil the Earth can supply, the easy half. There’s no getting around it, the world we know runs on oil. As oil gets harder and more expensive to produce, what will happen? There is hope in “Green” energy but a good question to ask is can it possibly replace oil fast enough if at all? Here’s the problem as I see it. Can we maintain our rock and roll lifestyle here in the west (based on the notion of limitless economic growth) and expect it to simply go on forever? Keep in mind some other nations want to emulate us in living as if there is no tomorrow and it is cost free.
A part of the problem is that this is a slowly unfolding disaster taking decades, not days. We have a problem wrapping our head around large long-term problems and coping with them in a sane manner. In my book, the global warming deniers fall into this category. We muddy the waters with politics and do nothing all while watching polar icecaps melt and global temperature rise. We have become adept at bullshitting ourselves. It may NOT end with “they all lived happily ever after.” So… if the story has a different looking ending than the typical fairy tale, what would it be?
Civilizations like people that make the up go through life spans. When they fall, it is often not very pretty but life goes on. The Roman Empire did not last forever but had a nice long run. Once it fell, the so-called dark ages set in. Life became much more difficult but the wheels of time kept on rolling. The same is true of some of the great Indian civilizations in Central and South America. Now, we are nearing the collapse of the Great American Empire. Don’t worry, no doomsday predictions here, I’ll leave that to the religious whackos. So what will follow? We may be in for some major changes as we deplete our natural resources. Let’s consider class, culture and a little economics.
Looking at it as I often do through a class perspective, life could get very weird very fast. Today’s powerful are no different than the powerful who came before. People have done some crazy shit to maintain “control”. Pol Pot, Hitler and Idi Amin are just a few recent classic examples of the lengths people will to maintain power over others. Check out Gaddafi in Libya and Assad in Syria as of this writing. There are less stark examples like white southerners resisting the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. Some resorted to extreme violence to keep the status quo. Large corporations are subtler but behave similarly. Any threat to the bottom line is met with fierce resistance, such as regulation. Slow violence comes to mind. As poisons seep into the environment causing cancer rates to soar in places like Louisiana here in the United States and the tar sands area of Alberta, Canada; they deny any correlation and buy off the politicians to keep the status quo. Keep in mind we are busy mastering the dark arts of violent population control in places like Baghdad. Sooner or later, people will stop believing the propaganda from Washington via the media about the American Dream and our better days still being ahead of us. Less subtle means of control learned elsewhere can be brought home. As the economy contracts the powerful will likely act as they always do and the slow violence may soon morph into direct violence. We’ve seen this already on a relatively small scale in post Katrina New Orleans. Private security personnel protecting assets of the wealthy who are undeterred from shooting first and asking questions later on if at all. As long as there are television and radio look for the propaganda apparatus to go into hyper-drive. State sponsored killings of citizens will become a “…necessary response to terrorists, looters, hooligans, gangs and other deviants who are a threat to our way of life.”
Consider Baghdad as a nee model for your hometown. At the top, there’s the Green Zone. This is the most secure area in the city and also happens to be where the people who run things live. In the Green Zone there is plenty to eat, good medical care and a steady supply of electricity. The rest of the city is known as the Red Zone or no go zone. This is a land full of walls, check points, and general uneasiness. Medical care is sporadic to non-existent as well as electricity. The power here is in the hands of gangs and warlords. Be very careful what you say on that cell phone, landline and Internet. There are ears everywhere and if they hear the wrong thing, you could wind up in detention or the morgue. Satisfying basic needs like safety and security are on an hour-to-hour basis. Remember, Iraq is now a democratic society! To think or say otherwise are dangerous.
Sure I’ve lost my marbles you may be thinking if you have read this far! Also ask yourself how long is it before the predators now flying the US Mexican border area (and some of our larger cities) are armed? The illusion of freedom we all cherish so much now will continue in the form of elections void of real choices and dissenters quietly extinguished via marginalization and other means. But there is good news! If we do find ourselves living in such a society in the not so distant future, keep in mind it cannot last. If we cannot find an alternative way to power our industrial civilization what will a post-industrial society look like? If we can manage to get through the transition period without nuking the planet or completely poisoning the environment, perhaps life will be not so bad.
Part II will be up shortly. It gets better and not quite so damn dark!
For further reading check out the following:
http://www.feralscholar.org/blog/
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/
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