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The Future: After the Oil runs out, then what?

Our dependence on a primary source of energy, petroleum, is our Achilles heel. Petroleum's invasiveness is frightfully deep. It provides us with: antibiotics,   antihistamines,   antiperspirants,   antiseptics,   artificial flowers,   artificial hearts,   automotive parts,   backpacks,   balloons,   bandages,   blankets,   briefcase,   buttons,   cameras,   candles,   car and truck tires,   carpeting,   CD / DVD's and their cases,   cell phones,   clocks,   clothing,   coats,   coffee mugs,   colognes,   color dyes,   computers,   contact lenses,   credit cards,   dentures,   deodorant,   diapers,   drugs,   entertainment items and centers,   eyeglasses,   fertilizer,   flashlights,   flower pots,   food containers,   food storage bags,   fungicide,   furniture,   garbage bags,   gift wrap,   gloves,   glue,   golf balls,   grocery bags,   hair dryers,   hand soap,   handbags,   hand lotion,   heart-valve replacements,   in-line skates,   infant car seats,   ink,   insecticides,   juice bottles,   life jackets,   lubricants,   luggage,   makeup,   medical equipment and instruments,   medications,   notebooks,   nylon,   paint,   pantyhose,   PDA's,   pens and high lighters,   perfumes,   pesticide,   photographic film,   piano keys,   plasma / LCD screens,   plastic wrap,   poisons,   pollution,   polyester,   preservatives,   roofing material,   rope,   scents and flavorings,   shampoo,   shaving cream,   shipping containers,   shoes,   skies,   snow boards,   storage boxes,   stroller,   syringes,   telephones,   televisions,   tennis balls,   toiletries,   toothpaste,   toys,   umbrella,   vitamin capsules,   watches,   water bottles,   wood polish   - to name just a few of the millions of items that will go away unless we find a natural and sustainable alternatives.

In this we have no choice, so the sooner science is put to the task of finding how nature is able to produce items, think of a clam producing a shell, with little energy input and in a sustainable way, the sooner we will be able to continue life as usual, sustainably. In cases where we are not able to replace an item, we will have to do without, as not all items are a necessity. For instance, farming could go back to 100% organic, with permaculture, standards, the way farming had been done for thousands of years before chemicals were forced onto farmers. As a result, it would employ more people and we would do away with damaging chemicals and a way of farming that is not sustainable.
[ Don't believe the lie about insects eating everything we grow or that without chemicals we wont be able to grow enough food. Insects never ate everything before chemicals were forced on us. Either with or without chemicals, insect eat an average 35% (it does vary) of the crop. So, chemicals really don't make a difference and besides our ancestors didn't die off from insects eating everything or not being able to grow enough, and neither will we. Don't believe the liars! ]

The steps below are by no means complete or all encompassing. This is an outline to be used to increase discussions and move toward greening everything in our lives and being sustainable in every way possible. This discussion started in the 1970s, too bad so many of you dropped the ball since then and forgot to teach your children about how important this is. So, it's time again to pick up the ball and head toward a sustainable system that had always been in place, long before we interfered with Mother Earth.

[ If I were to expand on these concepts and ideas presented I would fill thousands of pages over many volumes. Instead, take responsibility for your own education and life. Take what is presented here and see where it leads you, and never give up on learning more. Don't forget, implement as many of the ideas as soon as possible. As you learn, bring it into your own life, then move forward and onto the next lesson. We only have one generation, about 50 years, left of Oil, at least at a price we can afford to pay, so start acting and stop sitting on you backside. ]

Step One:

• educate the masses to cut back on waste, make conservation the first priority, and return to 70s cry of the three Rs, and one more
• cut waste, conserve more by buying energy conservation devices for the home, to begin with
• reduce : reuse : recycle : buy recycled
• buy Low- to No- Pollution vehicles, walk and bicycle more
• implement conservation to reduce energy needs
• low-flow toilets and other water conservation
• gray water systems
• replace the lawn with something more sustainable
• insulate more
• compact florescent and light-emitting diode [ LED ] lights
• add a pollution tax on everything that pollutes and anything not recycled to help fund conservation for the poor- savings from conservation measures needs to be greater than the tax to overcome nay-sayers
• move toward a sustainable future, all areas, all industries and plan it out, funding research where needed
• begin funding the startup of a nation wide recycling program and deposit tax-that is not repealable, as they did with the 1970s deposit law
• find those things that can be replaced with sustainable plant sources (cellophane from non-wood cellulose) and make plans to convert, quickly
• plan research into what it would take to replace everything, or nearly everything, as soon as possible, currently made from petroleum to plant materials, with a sustainable eye (paper from quick growing plants, rather than trees, that can become a yearly crop and another cash crop)

Step Two:

• cut all types of waste, in all areas
• convert all farming / gardening activity to 100% organic permaculture methods, break up large corporate farms into smaller ones and do things like planting wind-breaks and erosion control barriers - stop the nonsense with GMO
• implement a nearly 100% recycling system, always finding a way to reach 100% as fast as possible
• make a plan to shut down power plants, starting with the oldest or dirtiest and move right into the next step to accomplish this
• plan a massive tree planting project, nation-wide, by first replacing non-native trees that are not good for the area and begin planting: throughout the city to help reduce heat gain from all the pavement and concrete, planting overly harvested areas and restore natural native settings, forested areas

Step Three:

• install solar panels [ heat and electricity ] and more windmills, large and small
• shut down incinerators and waste to energy plants, first, then move onto the oldest or dirtiest power plants
• using all the available restaurant grease to produce Biodiesel and put fallow land to use in growing the most efficient oil plant (not soy) and algae -- start by replacing petro-diesel by adding Biodiesel, starting with B10 (10% Biodiesel added to petro-diesel), moving toward a 100% Biodiesel
• make ethanol from the most efficient sources available, not corn, sugar beets(?)
• begin planting cities with native species of trees and replacing all the unwanted trees - now you don't plant trees in Las Vegas, its a dessert
• improve technology to store compressed air to electricity systems for energy storage when the sun does not shine (this would overcome the pollution and non-sustainability associated with chemical to electricity systems or other non-sustainable storage systems)

Step Four:

• convert sewage treatment plants to Biogas / Methane plants starting with any new ones planed, not yet built and then replacing old ones
• convert transportation to a mass-transit system, replacing individual cars and bringing in various types of technology, like PRTs [ Personal Rapid Transit systems ]
• build an electric high-speed train system, nation wide, to replace all cross-country flights, powered in part by PV and Wind
• build solar towers / chimney in the dessert areas to help produce electricity
• begin restoring the forests nation wide
• link all national park systems to make them continuous which will allow for better migration of wild life
• convert streets to bicycle and pedestrian zones with green-scapes

Step Five:

• convert industries to become sustainable: make a product, once used up take it back for a new one, disassemble old one into raw materials and recycle materials into something new
• implement a spiral or target economic zone, where as many things as possible are grown and produced locally before importing anything from farther away or shipped ever increasing distances [ a world economy based on imports and exports is not sustainable, as we currently do it ]
• make the slow movement law or at least a requirement [ slow food, slow manufacturing, etc. ]

Everything mentioned here can be implemented today with off the shelf technology and materials. The only thing standing in the way is, You and corporations wanting to maintain profits. Corporations wont make the change unless they absolutely have to as they like the status quo, high profits and their massive size, which they use to prevent sustainability from becoming the norm.

If you care about the future, about your children or grand-children, the planet as a whole, you need to act and make everything in your life sustainable the same way all the systems Mother Earth maintained before people arrogantly thought they could do it better. If you care, you need to act, today, or the planet will we create will kill us off and then go on peaceably without us. It's all up to You. Decide.

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