Grim Future after Age of Oil

The end of cheap oil -- and with it, our present food production and distribution system -- will bring catastrophic changes, writes Jan Lundberg.

1 minute read

June 21, 2005, 6:00 AM PDT

By Michael Dudley


"Not only will the sudden oil shortage ahead mean the Final Energy Crisis, the present economy only works on growth, so even a plateau of global petroleum extraction...would mean the house of economic cards collapses on its own. Recovery from such an event, even if not from oil shortage, would appear impossible because supplies of oil would be among the commodities suddenly scarce, and this would have a terminal effect on much economic activity and people's lives.

"There is no Plan B for coping with a terminal oil shock to the economy. Therefore, a breakdown of society must ensue, starting with 'the trucks will not be pulling into Wal-Mart or Safeway'...When people cannot get transportation to their jobs, business stops. People will be panicking first about gasoline, and then about how much food and water they have -- tragically trying to protect those meager supplies in an unforgiving urban environment. Nature has been made to stop offering up the simple essentials of life, when the privatized fortress and paved-over toxic cities rely on money and cheap energy to move everything around the world. The world as we 'know' it will end but we'll get to know the world as it really is a lot better."

Thanks to Michael Dudley

Monday, June 20, 2005 in Culture Change

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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