Happy Motoring

I'm a little disturbed by what I'm hearing about Obama's plan to stimulate the economy. I read that as much as $1 trillion dollars could be employed to create jobs and get the country moving. While I like the idea of a "new" new deal, I hear that a huge portion of this money will be used to build new roads and bridges instead of investing in mass transit. While I understand that people like their cars and suburbs, at some point we need to wake up and recognize our unsustainable reality.

Nearly all the work done in the world economy, all the manufacturing, construction, and transportation, is done with energy derived from fuel. Fuel, as you know, is becoming more scarce, with many of our best and brightest claiming that peak production happened in 2005. In addition, more people are using fuel and doing so at a greater rate, which means more demand and much higher prices as reserves become depleted. If you can't fuel your car, either because gas prices are too high or supply is too low, how are you going to get from your suburb to your job? Considering our fractured agricultural system which also relies on cheap oil, how will you feed yourself when food prices soar? How will you afford basic manufactured items when the value of your dollar plummets and the price of those items increases? It might be a good idea for us to start thinking about these things.

Granted, giving up your car and life in the suburban sprawl in favor of mass transit wont solve our problems living in an oil-based economy, but it's a start.