student loans that they actually think they will be able to pay back in a reasonable amount of time. With the economy in shambles with no reasonable time table for recovery, how can they even find a job to pay back the loans? The U.S. economy hasn’t got a iota of a chance for recovery unless we produce jobs that actually make something, or grow something that we can sell to other countries. The agriculture sector is in dire straits as the cost of fuel , fertilizer, and pesticides increase exponentially every year, wholly because of our dependence on petroleum products to produce and transport our food. That time is fast approaching an end. We need to start thinking locally about our businesses and farming. Globalization is dead since it depends on the availability of petrofuels, especially aviation fuels. It seems that everyone is clamoring to avoid the slower, agrarian lifestyle at all costs, which depends on slower railroads and boats. Don’t we need to revamp our education system so that we produce more farmers, craftsman, and tradesman, rather than people who don’t produce anything tangible? The exception to this question would be the medical community which would require a good education. But, like in Russia, a doctor only has to go to 5 years of medical school without having to attend pre-med which is usually a bachelors degree in some field related or not related to medicine here in the U.S. I feel that we will need to submit to a change in our lifestyle voluntarily, or it will be forced upon us by the reality of our energy situation. Most of the alternative energy projects produce electricity, and at a much lower amount than our coal fired generators. Also, solar power is not a steady source of power since the sun doesn’t shine 24/7/365 in most places and will depend on batteries to back them up. I haven’t seen a battery that could make up for the variations in electricity production caused by the sun not being there all the time. At least not at the rate the U.S. uses electricity. Oil and Gas are a lost cause due to the decline in the availability and pollution factors. Transporting these commodities will be a problem as the cost of fuel increases, along with the potential of spot shortages. Wouldn’t we be better off committing ourselves to the type of education that will help us live the life that we will ultimately end up having to live anyways? The Amish community only requires that their children only attend school for 8 years. I am sure that we will require a little more than that like maybe 12 years of High School with the emphasis on trades, farming, home economics. and physicians assistants which would be what most agrarian communities would require.
Whilst I agree with some of what you say I don’t agree with some of your assumptions.
There are a lot of people already changing the way they live (Browse Permaculture and Transition Towns) they are planning for energy decent. The oil crisis is a crisis of consumption. As oil prices increase, as tar sands become more difficult to process, the price of oil will increase, but so will the incentive for people to work and live in different ways. It will not happen overnight, but if it does then there is still a lot of hope (browse How Cuba Survived Peak Oil) as Cuba showed us in the Special Period.
We will not lose the technology nor skills we already have, products will be redesigned and advances will be made quickly so that less materials and energy are used. Skills are transferable and the problems will be world wide so the world markets will be very competitive in finding solutions.
We won’t be going back to the Stone Age, we will be going forward, with a new way of thinking, a recognition of how foolish we have been in the past and a much greater need for a well educated population. When there are shortages, the price mechanism ensures that people train to fit those gaps and take advantages of higher wages. The rise in green jobs and technologies is rapid. The gap between the richest and poorest societies is shocking. I agree that there will be some adjustments, lets hope our shift in thinking helps to close that rich/poor gap in the process.
I didn’t even read it… just chill these questions are too scientific for some of us to answer, they should make a yahoo answers for more complicated people like you…
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Doesn’t matter if we want to or not like you said, most of us won’t be able to afford petroleum products for wasteful uses like pushing a three ton vehicle around to carry one person. Solar energy from troughs or heat towers can store its energy in molten salt for at least three days, depending on how much storage capacity you want to build into the system. There is no need for most of the power we use at night. The high rise buildings in cities don’t have to have every light on at all hours of the day- they kill birds because the birds are to stupid to leave the light and go on their way in the darkness- they just fly around until they run out of energy and drop dead. Street lights are needed because people have such poor night vision (lack of vitamin A in their systems) that they are needed so people aren’t running into each other all the time because they can’t see well enough. The only thing I learned in high school of any use was how to type. If I’d learned a trade there, I would have been much better off, and could have started life earlier than having to go to a college to get the education and wasting money. Plus, it’s easier to learn at younger ages- each year a person gets older, it’s harder to learn.
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Whilst I agree with some of what you say I don’t agree with some of your assumptions.
There are a lot of people already changing the way they live (Browse Permaculture and Transition Towns) they are planning for energy decent. The oil crisis is a crisis of consumption. As oil prices increase, as tar sands become more difficult to process, the price of oil will increase, but so will the incentive for people to work and live in different ways. It will not happen overnight, but if it does then there is still a lot of hope (browse How Cuba Survived Peak Oil) as Cuba showed us in the Special Period.
We will not lose the technology nor skills we already have, products will be redesigned and advances will be made quickly so that less materials and energy are used. Skills are transferable and the problems will be world wide so the world markets will be very competitive in finding solutions.
We won’t be going back to the Stone Age, we will be going forward, with a new way of thinking, a recognition of how foolish we have been in the past and a much greater need for a well educated population. When there are shortages, the price mechanism ensures that people train to fit those gaps and take advantages of higher wages. The rise in green jobs and technologies is rapid. The gap between the richest and poorest societies is shocking. I agree that there will be some adjustments, lets hope our shift in thinking helps to close that rich/poor gap in the process.
References :