I don’t go to horror movies so I am surprised that on Monday morning I quickly link to James Kunstler’s weekly essay on Clusterfuck Nation. If you aren't quite sure what a clusterfuck might be check here. Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century has a dark view of the future. We will be out of gas and car dependent suburbs and cities will collapse. Kunstler believes we are in a daze believing we can maintain a Wal-mart way of life with spinach being hauled cross country on trucks. Today he writes, “When politicians flog the term around -- "energy independence" -- they invariably mean that we will continue enjoying the happy motoring utopia by other means than imported oil (which makes up 70 percent of all the oil we burn). Get this: the day is not far off when, for one reason or another, the flow of imported oil to the US will cease. But when that day comes, we will not be running our shit the way we have been running it. That day will be the end of the interstate highways, Walt Disney World, and WalMart -- in short, the way of life we are fond of calling "non-negotiable." Amazingly, this scenario is not part of this discussion even by those who claim to be reality based. When it comes to gas for our beloved cars we are all faith based and believe that science and industry will find a way. Kunstler believes they won’t and that all of us will have to make huge readjustments in the way we live.
UPDATE: Cambridge Energy Research Associates say peak oil theory is flawed. Will be anxious to see what Kunstler has to say about this next week.
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