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| I had to retire this shirt but will never retire the message or the inspiration that it has brought to so many! |
Some of these benefits are direct, many others are secondary and a nearly infinite amount are tertiary. Oil prices are perhaps the most exciting direct benefits of our new way of life because we have the most control over how much petrochemical product we consume. Doing all of the things that I have been encouraging for decades can nearly eliminate the need for pumping oil from underground. As demand declines, through all of us walking more, riding bikes, insisting on more efficient vehicles, carpooling, using mass transit, combining trips, shopping for neighbors, etc. the use of fossil fuel tapers off. It has been doing so at a greater and greater rate and it is finally having the undeniable impact we are seeing in the marketplace. This reduces the price per gallon and price per barrel of oil in the world marketplace. Reductions in packaging reduce demand for plastics, reduction in the use of plastics in turn require less transportation of these materials and create a feedback loop of lessening the need for pulling more and more oil from the ground. The price of oil on world markets has plummeted in the past year or so and through a host of conservation efforts, demand continues to fall, impacting price of both fuel and the feedstock, oil, that is pushed through refineries. As we consume more and more local produce, the fuel per calorie cost drops and demand for polluting oil shrinks. The less waste we create, the less we have to shift into landfill, and the energy used to move our waste decreases as well.
As the majority of the world population begins to head into another winter, after six months of record high temperatures, we can only assume that fuel use will be less as well, because global climate change is making our climate less severe in winter. I rarely trust predictions of meteorologists, but they are saying that a return of the polar vortex into temperate zones, this coming winter, is unlikely. A reduction in fossil heating fuels will in turn reduce the price for oil and natural gas. As demand decreased, prices often fall, which can undermine conservation efforts, but the majority of the population will welcome having more money in their pockets and not want to waste more energy which will only feed it back into the pockets of the oligarchs and corporate welfare whores. We continue to insulate, turn our thermostats down and seal up cracks that used to waste energy. Demand for fuel efficient vehicles is still expanding and as we learn the true value of minding our own business, we often learn more and more methods for cutting out needless waste. We have all heard the maxim haste makes waste and as we learn to deal with longer term issues we also understand that each penny saved is a penny earned. This in turn leads to greater and greater freedom of choice when we do enter the marketplace.
For the more experienced among us, a fun thing to do is to unwrap the over-packaged things that we do buy right at the check-out, leaving the packaging for the business, that sells the product, to deal with. If they start to see an increase in cost associated with stupid packaging, they are more likely to do the right thing as well and make the producers pay to get rid of the stuff. There are now whole stores that have none of their products in packages. Apple Computer has eliminated the need for and even the possibility of inserting a CD by offering all software online. One more source of little-used plastic has disappeared. These changes seem minute when looked at in isolation, but together they are a living testament to conservation and efficiency. Just like when I harvest my food from my garden. The only calories that are burned are ones that came from the garden in the first place. The beet tops and potato skins that fill my compost are once again transported to the compost pile and spread as nutrients for soil building, by calories produced right there, without waste and without the petrochemical mediation of agribusiness and/or transportation.
It is being said that a wet fall this year is wreaking havoc on farmers and for a number of reasons. First, the ground is too wet to harvest much of the corn and soybean crop. This keeps millions of gallons of fuel from being burned, reducing demand for oil and gas/diesel. Even though the wet fall is demanding more natural gas for drying out grain crops, since so much will be left in the fields, there may be less demand than we might otherwise expect. This in turn makes the price of home heating fuel more reasonable. Of course, the oligarchs, unwilling to foot the cost of any changes and are trying to ram legislation down our throats that would reduce the cost of energy per BTU, while making up those losses on the backside by raising surcharges, basic service fees as well as other "fixed" costs proposed for consumers. Instead of encouraging conservation, these approaches are a thinly veiled attempt to bring back the "good old days" of wasteful consumerism and ecological destruction. Those who are minding their business will have none of that!
Add to this the fact that many families are learning to enjoy one another, spending more time sitting around the table educating their children or playing games. If they do have to go out they often do it as a larger group, exploring their neighborhood by bike or on foot. Enjoying a local park or attraction rather than jetting off across the country to experience a mediated world of electronic gizmos and hyper energy dependent distractions. Even the relatively new term "stay-cations" has come into our consciousness like a breath of fresh air. By simply unplugging our computers and phone, we have learned just why we built that deck or planted such a beautiful array of flowers around our home. Taking time to smell the roses takes on a whole new meaning when you realize that it fits nicely into the revolution that is not being televised. I see it in every neighborhood that I visit, although some still seem to miss the point of meeting the neighbors and sharing what you have with those less fortunate, or whom you care for.
I was just listening to an expert explain that the recent slide in oil prices has been, over 15% in only six months. The cost of a barrel of oil went from well over $100 six months ago to around eighty dollars today and we are within less than ten dollars of making fracking unprofitable. That is a victory many can get behind! I, for one, have pledged to redouble my efforts to not burn any unnecessary fossil fuel. Leave it in the ground! That is my motto. We all need to begin to understand that minding our own business includes protecting the water supply (for everyone), making sure that other life forms have a chance at living healthy lives (not just for our selves or our species) and that our neighbors as well as ourselves have cleaner air to breathe as well. When we sequester ourselves in the "safety" of our own isolation, it is easy to feel like we are a voice in the wilderness, easy to feel alone or radical or even out of touch. When we look at it in another dimension, all of us are working toward sustainability and living better for less, doing so automatically helps to build a more sustainable world and together we are able to make far more progress than any one of us could alone. Bless you all for helping to define more clearly the difference between wants and needs. In the end it may be the only thing standing between a life worth living and having to die out like so many other species.
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