Peak Oil Is Gonna Make It A Big World After All
In my talks, I have talked a lot about reinventing normal life and in particular our notions of mobility (among other things)…
Part and parcel is this idea that it’s a small world. We get this small world idea from Disneyland as kids (recall hearing mechanical children swaying to the refrain “Its a small world after all”) as well as from seemingly serendipitous encounters that are probably statistically ordinary in a world were people jet and motor around the country. It is easy to think that the world is small when one can get from point A anywhere in the global economy to point B anywhere in the global economy within a matter of hours (rather than days or months). It makes it easy for us spread out families and friends as people chase paychecks and jobs across the country if not the planet.
Oil peak is going to change all of that - the world is going quickly to become a lot bigger. Global oil extraction will soon peak and go into decline. Our economies and our cities are not anywhere close to being prepared for making do with less petroleum (or natural gas, which may soon follow oil’s peak). The canary in the coalmine for the end of this small world notion is airline industry woes due to rising fuel prices. The world is going to revert to a much larger place and at some point, people will get the idea that it makes more sense in an energy constrained world to lay down their roots in a place that they really want to be.
As local culture re-develops, rising out of the ashes of the global monoculture of consumerism and suburban living, a sense of place and community will re-emerge as key differentiators as we strive to find a place where we belong. The other major consideration will be the whereabouts of friends and family, though I worry that many will find themselves alone and stranded in locale of their former workplace, unable to afford the cost of reuniting with their loved ones. Que sera sera…
Photo credit: Intercot
This is one of my greatest concerns about peak oil. I live in San Francisco, but the majority of my family lives in the New York City area. In the larger world that p.o. will create, it makes little sense for me to live so far from my loved ones, despite my love for this area. Tough choices…
Hey Ariel, I don’t have any concrete evidence, but it seems to me that families are more dispersed than ever. People chase paychecks and seek to be in new environments across the country and around the world. I imagine there being a lot of sadness in the world solely due to the separation of loved ones when travel is no longer accessible to the average person. Thanks for your comment!