Skills for the Future

When I talk to most people about Peak Oil they tend to get the impression that I am talking about oil running out overnight or in a few years at the longest. Oil will not just disappear but as we use the oil that is easy to get we have to search longer and harder to find what is left. The oil that we get from Texas or Saudi Arabia takes about 1 barrel’s worth of oil in energy to extract 100 barrels of oil or a 1:100 Energy Input: Energy Returned ratio (EIER). Deep Water Horizon only promised a 1:4 to a 1:8 EIER! They are drilling there because we are running out of places to drill. Even if we open up ANWAR it will only be a tiny drop on the price of oil in 10-15 years (the amount of time to get an average oil field into production). The point is that the oil we have left is going to steadily increase in price as the decade’s progress.


This means that our disposable society that depends on cheap petroleum based energy will have to transition to something else entirely. I will restate this: Our way of life is going to dramatically change in the coming decades. Yes this will take decades and it will be painful for most of the population who have been living in denial for most of their lives. To minimize the social upheaval that you feel it would be advisable to acquire some skills that our grandparents had and to rethink all of our purchases.

When we buy something we should try to buy the most durable, reliant, and energy efficient thing that you can. If you are buying a bathroom scale buy one that does not require batteries. If you buy a set of kitchen knives buy ones that you can sharpen. If you are buying frying pans buy a cast iron one over a Teflon coated frying pan, the cast iron one can be used by your grandchildren and the Teflon will become scarp in a decade when the Teflon starts to peel off. Buy quality now because quantity is not going to be cheap once it starts costing a lot of money to sail container ships from China. Things are going to start getting more expensive so if you can buy a high quality durable product now, do it now.

Learn to sharpen your own knives and tools, only a half century ago people made a living sharpening knives. Learn to sew and repair your clothes or even make some of your own cloths, towels etc… There will come a time when we will no longer be able to afford to go out and just buy a new shirt just because you lost a button on yours. We have out sourced most of our textile mills and it will be costly to move them back, they will move back but only when the cost of transportation is more expensive than what they have to pay Americans to make clothes again.

Learn small engine repair, gardening, electronic repair, plumbing, carpentry, learn to play a musical instrument or any countless things that your grandparents could do. A lot of our jobs that depend on federal spending (which is most of us) will start to disappear once our nation has to finally rein in its spending. Get out of debt and try to find a job close to you, because commuting will start costing more. Find alternative ways to heat and cool your home, start using clotheslines and most importantly learn to cook.

We spend less energy/time now to procure food then anytime in human history. Only 10% of our income is devoted to obtaining food for ourselves. As food prices increase the processed, precooked, heat and serve food so many Americans consume will become prohibitory expensive. It is amazing that most Americans do not know how to cook, they know how to warm things up but not cook from scratch. Learn to use and buy raw in season produce in your food preparation, because you will not be able to obtain asparagus from Argentina in January unless you are rich.

As we proceed down the petroleum curve the divide between the rich and the poor will increase and the number of people who are middle class will decrease. If you can start taking steps now you will help ease the burden on your children who are the ones that will feel the true brunt of the decline of the oil age. If you can switch to renewable energy sources even if it is only a solar hot water heater. Try to demand net metering from your utility company, or the creation of microgrids in your area.

Our world is going to change whether we like it or not. We can start to prepare now or we can be caught unprepared in the years to come. Our economy based on infinite growth is meeting the brick wall of a finite planet. No matter how much we shout “Drill Baby Drill” we cannot increase the amount of oil on this planet. We have to realize that just because we drill a hole does not mean that we will find oil in it. Some people will grow angry and blame everyone but themselves as our current concept of “the American Dream”, which is measured by the possession of material goods, becomes unobtainable. They will blame the government, foreigners and anyone who is different. They will not realize that it is their own overconsumption and reckless waste that has created the problem.

You have a chance to ease the pain that your children will feel in the future as they can no longer obtain the same lifestyle that they’re grandparents lived. Please take that chance and use it wisely, not for me, not for the planet but for your children and mine.