Once a year they throw down chip seal on the roads of this isle. It’s a slop of tar coated with a sprinkle of gravel. It makes me question my road bike ambitions. Which is basically: Get a bike. Ride it. The rocks do eventually sink into the tar after traffic has pushed it down and the sun bakes it crispy, I suppose. Having done much hitchhiking along the roads I get a close up view of the weeds that could not escape that black oily coat.
I listen to NPR in the mornings. Mostly for entertainment and to tap in to the world that is beyond the Orcas Island shores. Three things are consistent: Economy is crashing. We are in a food crisis. We are on an oil crisis. Lions and tigers and bears- Oh my!
I made a bet with a friend of mine that in San Francisco the price at any gas station will pass $6.99 by August 1. My analysis rests on two factors; one is that gas prices in summer time always go up peaking off towards late summer (especially in California, a high-density car driving state) and secondly, the price per barrel of oil is on a steady but somewhat rigorous climb. Last month exactly on May 25, 2008 an oil barrel was at $69. Today it is at a all time high of $134 per barrel. If this is peak oil (as they say) then the price should remain on incline. Supply, demand, you know the game. Come August 1, we shall see.
Back to hitchhiking and oil covered weeds. President George W. streams through on NPR from time to time with something to tell America. Oil and energy are at the top of the list and his solution is to keep it local. Alaska, he says, has a large reserve, which will only take seven years to set up in order to extract at full capacity. It will reduce our dependence upon foreign oil, ensure homeland security and lower gas prices at home. There were analysists galore on both sides of the fence tattering off their opinions. I personally think it’s a horrible idea. It is far more than the spotted owl and the environmental degradation of such a serene place. The oil crisis is also bigger than the price tag on a gallon of standard unleaded gasoline. Gasoline in Germany is at approximately $12 a gallon, while Venezuela riding the other side of the spectrum pays only $0.12 per gallon so really we are not that bad off. (Note: Germans are far more efficient and we are a gas-guzzling nation, yes. So, poTATEoes, poTOToes.) The crisis is the climate shift causing notable floods and hurricanes, the air pollution against the San Bernardino mountains outside of Los Angeles where kids don’t have physical education if the smog is too thick, and it’s the petroleum-based chemicals that have infiltrated every corner of our lives and our homes. Look around.
Oil has made us industrious, no doubt about it, but it is running out. Closed case. So getting our fill from a short lasting reserve in Alaska aint gonna cut it, sir. Mr. George W., the solution should be a shift in focus. There is a theory my neighbor Mike in San Francisco introduced me to a few months ago. It states that when an individual comes to a new realization or idea that it is released into the world and enters the consciousness of the universe, if you will. It is then up for grabs for individuals, groups, and systems too absorb. A shift in mentality about energy, industry, and the well-being of our nation and our world already exists. Maybe try tapping into that instead?
Locally grown oil. Ha.
