Over the peak and moving forward

Whether it is true or not, it seems that the best way forward now is to consider oil if not at peak, then quickly becoming too expensive for average people to use as an energy source.

The difficulty for most of today’s culture, because they all seem to be shifting to the dominant perspective of possession, is that energy should be shared, and should be regenerative and that runs contrary to possession.

Wind, reconfigured hydro-plants, solar, ocean current… maybe someone will dream up a way to capture energy from storms. I heard a story yesterday how Newfoundland fishers were harvesting bits of ice bergs, “bergie bits” they called them, for drinking water. Sells for a fortune in Texas, bottled. Is that a good thing for the sea? I don’t know, but I thought it was creative.

Reducing access to travel will have its own complications. As fewer people travel, we return to the isolationist attitudes that always risk intolerance. And as resources are perceived as diminished, people tend to become more aggressive, risking …well, everything on the planet.

And while we are constantly hearing of the shallowness of the American people, they underestimate us. We might have been the rejects of other places, one professor I had for a graduate history class said we were, “the dregs of Europe”… (he was a funny old guy), still… even if that is so, we had grit, survival instincts, and resilience. Resilience is a key descriptor. Rural people are known in almost any definition, for their resiliency, resourcefulness, and creative application.

Like the FDR electrification programs, let’s collectively invest in passive, regenerative, non-polluting energy sources. Whatever that takes…. we need to figure it out and git-er-dun.

Taking control back before the average person is suckered into selling its wind-rights (happening already), or losing its water rights (on everyone’s radar around the Great Lakes) or quality of water. Enough is enough.