Cory: Contrary views are not only welcome, they are absolutely necessary. Thanks for playing devil’s advocate.

Brian: Thanks for the great rebuttal! Much better than I could have done

As for the “sailing to New Zealand” comment – I didn’t feel it was cheap – it brings up a very important point. Maybe that’s exactly how we should be doing long-haul travel. There is nothing carved in stone that transportation will continue to be cheap and easy. It’s that kind of “we’re owed convenience” thinking that led to SUV Nation in the first place.

And, this morning’s post from Jim Kunstler[1] is rather eye-opening about the direction things appear to be heading. I’ve got no reason to doubt his reasoning there, and am a bit concerned about what it implies…

As for the developing countries – I sincerely hope that we work our collective asses off so they can leapfrog the problem. I’m really not concerned about an energy crisis as I am an agricultural crisis. I’m not going to loose sleep if SUVs are parked with empty tanks, but millions of people are being set up to starve once the petro-fertilizers are gone[2]. We’ve artificially inflated/ignored the carrying capacity of the planet. THAT’s the real pending crisis, not the price of gasoline.

[1] http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2005/11/true_blue.html
[2] http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002945.html

“Last I checked, the US had not taken over the oil fields of Kuwait OR Iraq, not to mention Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, or that large oil-rich country across our northern border…”

Your definition of “taken over the oil fields” — is unnecessarily tight… whoever is in nominal control is of secondary importance, what matters most is a willingness to provide American markets with oil at a favorable cost. It’s obvious that Saudi Arabia is an American client state, as the close ties between House of Fahd and Bush family make all too obvious. Incidentally, Osama Bin Laden explicitly linked the presence of tens of thousands of American troops in Saudi Arabia (who never quite got around to leaving after the first Gulf War) as primary motivation for the 9/11 attacks. And what about those permanent army bases they are building in Iraq?

As far as Venezuela goes, history makes it obvious that the preferred mode of Latin American intervention is not invasion (Bay of Pigs, and Grenada excepted), but supporting a coup. Which is exactly what the Bush administration did with Venezuela back in 2002. In such a clumsy manner that even the American press criticised them for it, back when Bush could do no wrong.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,688071,00.html

And there is no need for the United States to “take over” the Canadian oil fields, as they are already mostly owned by American interests (though the Chinese are making inroads). There is also NAFTA and other trade agreements that will compel us to sell energy to the American market even in the face of shortages at home.

At this point, if you still cling to the notion that oil has nothing to do with America’s military adventures then there is nothing I or anyone else can say to convince you otherwise. The fact that the President, Vice-President and Secretary of State are all former oil executives is not worthy of mention, and any connection between their policies and the soaring profits of oil companies worldwide is obviously just a wild coincidence.

I assume your line about “backbone” and caribou is a reference to the ANWR drilling that was reversed by the US Congress — maybe it’s a lack of machismo, or maybe it’s a realization that the amount of oil up there is a pittance when weighed against the environmental damage that drilling will inflict.

One reason that gas prices have dropped is that Europe has been releasing significant oil and refined products from its own strategic reserves after Katrina (they just ended that, after all, they need it too). But in any event, short-term fluctuations are of minor interest when the long-term trends are so obvious.

D’Arcy makes it very clear that his own lifestyle is dependent on oil, that’s what the whole posting is about — your shot about him sailing to New Zealand is out of context, and is cheap.

And the rise of oil consumption in China, India and elsewhere is not something that is lost on anyone. It a major reason why analysts suggest the effects of peak oil will be so severe. That developing countries aspire to the benefits of our lifestyle is no revelation. It’s all the more reason we need to get our own act together.

Allow me to play the contrarian.

First, your aside about “oil wars” needs some sourcing. Last I checked, the US had not taken over the oil fields of Kuwait OR Iraq, not to mention Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, or that large oil-rich country across our northern border. Indeed, the US Congress currently lacks the backbone to invade a caribou herd, much less an oil-producing country.

Here on the southern Erie shore, gas is just above $2/gal US; it’s come down quite a bit in recent weeks.

The military is NOT the only industry that relies on portable power supplies. There’s this little line of business called Transportation – moving people and goods from Point A to Point B. Were you going to sail to New Zealand?

By the way, do you have any links to eco-warriors in China and India? Those exploding economies are going to rapidly surpass the West’s oil consumption.

Um… I’d say zero… unless they had a very bad day…

For the most part petroleum is sourced from marine-derived organisms…

You’ll find your Jurassic jungle in your coals….

Cheers..

-Michelle

By marine organisms, btw … I mean algae and such…

Good point. So, mostly algae, and the occasional T. Rex that got washed off a beach or something…

I’ve been keeping a few links on sustainability D’Arcy. The one on biodeisel inspires me. http://del.icio.us/leighblackall/sustainability

You describe the prices of oil spiking (imagining that they might come down). People I talk to describe it in terms of our capacity to extract what is left has peaked, while our demand for it keeps increasing. So, unless new technologies are developed that will boost capacities to extract what is left (and filter it) at rates pared with our increasing demand, I’d say the prices will just keep going up, up, up.

Sell your petrol car while there is still a market for it, buy a diesel if you still need a car, start hanging out at fish and chip shops, enjoy the zen of filtering used cooking oil.

Move to a community where they are preparing for blackouts, food shortages, and high unemployment.

http://www.ford.com/en/vehicles/specialtyVehicles/environmental/ethanol.htm

Ford. Go figure.