Kunstler mania!: You know all that stuff we've been saying about the end of oil, and the third way, and doom and gloom? Well, just take a gander at this week's Kunstler. He even thinks irony is stupid. Read the whole thing.
posted by Joshua @ 3:13 PM
6 Comments:
Kunstlers doomsday predictions seem a little off-mark for me, if only because Americans will do whatevber it takes to maintain their lifestyles, and when it comes down to the wire we'llfind a way. What worries me more is the idea of escalating tensions in the middle east, and China backing whomever we're fightring at a given moment in order to secure their place at the table. That's scary, because current American foreign policy (and sentiment) is about never backing down and believing that others are obligated to feed our addictions. That's not a healthy combo.
Oh, I agree that Kunstler is a bit too Jeremiah at times, but his essential points are good.
I think your statement "if only because Americans will do whatevber it takes to maintain their lifestyles, and when it comes down to the wire we'll find a way" is precisely the problem he's talking about, though.
It's an almost mythical approach to a real-world problem: we'll magically figure something out, because we want to keep living a plush lifestyle. That's why we don't back down in foreign policy - because to back down would be to accept we can't go at it like this forever.
A Motto for Roundeye if I've ever heard one. (Hint: I haven't)
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So that's our solution: "We're Americans, we always win in the end." Pardon me if I'm not entirely convinced yet.
That's not my solution, that's my prediction, and it's a rosy one at that. I think that without proper leadership ("beginning of the end" thread) we'll be stuck in our lifestyles until it's too late.
And then we'll find a way to cope because we always do.
Well, okay, I feel we may be speaking two slightly different languages here.
What do we view as 'the challenge,' exactly?
If 'the challenge' is to keep our current lifestyle completely intact regardless of how much petroleum exists on the earth, well, I'm sorry, but you can't challenge thermodynamics and win.
But if 'the challenge' is how to adapt our lives to smaller petroleum reserves while expanding our alternate energy technology and usage, well, I'm all for that one.
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