I subscribe to National Geographic and thumb to their Environment section automatically every month. June's issue is fantastic (featuring Stonehenge as the cover story). Their environment coverage is always interesting and relevant, but there was one particular article that reminded me of something we should be discussing right now.
Peak Oil is eminent.
[That photo is courtesy of National Geographic- you'll see it when you pull up the above link.]
What is Peak Oil, you ask? For those unaware, oil is a natural resource. Like all natural resources- there is no endless supply. Humans have been probing for the crude garbage for decades and at one point in our history it seemed as if the stuff would never run out.
Newsflash: It's running out. Fast.
There's no real way to predict exactly when Peak Oil will hit, but if my gut tells me anything, it should be soon.
I found the above video on the Myspace page of a fellow tree-hugger. I think it really speaks to what's going to happen to us in no uncertain terms.
We're screwed guys, it's time to wean or face an economic disaster. I'm working on finding a job closer to where I live, though the task seems even more daunting all the time. The recession isn't helping things, that's for sure.
So the big question is: How? How do we, and I say we in all general terms, how do we- as a society- lead the way in reversing our dependence on foreign oil and potentially put an end to drilling in our own country?
The answer is complicated and best left to professional environmentalists, scientists politicians and special interest groups.
On an individual level, I'm sure there's SOMETHING we can do, right? Like I mentioned before- living close to work helps a great deal. Since that's an impossibility for me right now, Mark and I have decided to do this instead:
These are the first photos of our community garden plot. Our spot hadn't been used in two years (as you can see from the first shot) and rototilling it was like going to war with a golf course rough. Thank goodness our generous garden neighbor Phil and his brother Ed did us a solid and used their tractor on our sad 50' x 25' rectangle.
Gardening and peak oil? What could they possibly have in common?
A lot.
1) Everyone should be a good steward of the Earth in one form or another.
2) We'll spend less gas going to the grocery store to buy food all the time. My garden is so close I can run or ride my bike to it with ease.
3) Since we won't be using the produce at the supermarket, we'll decrease the demand for produce grown in far away places. Therefore, we won't be adding to the fuel consumption of food transport.
4) Did you know that traditional, non-organic fertilizers require mining and petrol additives to maintain the final product? Oh yeah, there's crazy shit in there and it's best to leave it the hell alone. Organic fertilizers from local producers (we use a pellet formula from a local farm) reduce all of the mining, petrol and trucking required for the other stuff that commercial farms use.
Speaking of commercial farming and fertilizers, take a look at this!
See that contrast in water quality? That's created by nitrogen run-off, the result of mass produced fertilizers, draining into the Mississippi River and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico. When these fertilizers dump into the Gulf, they create giant algae plumes. The algae grows so thick that it blocks sunlight from the ocean floor. Marine life that can swim away does so quickly. Animals that can't, like micro organisms and most invertebrates as well as aquatic plants, eventually die off. When the algae plumes die, the sink to the ocean floor where bacteria eats away at it. This decomposition requires oxygen, the supply of which is used up so quickly that any remaining life in the water is killed off completely. In the end, you get something that looks like this:
That red section is the dead zone of the Gulf of Mexico, stretching from the Mississippi Delta, as of 2001. It's much larger today and it continues to grow every year. This phenomenon is often referred to as Hypoxia [the literal definition of hypoxia is oxygen starvation to the body].
If the Mid-West can do this much damage to such a large body of water, imagine what our run-off does to our local water supplies.
All you Bostonians know what I'm talking about when you see those drain covers in the city that say, "No dumping, drains directly into the Charles River." There's a reason they don't want you pouring God-knows-what in there.
This has been quite a rant- maybe because it's Friday, maybe because I've found a lull in my work obligations. Regardless, this is all stuff I needed to get off my chest.
Please share your thoughts. I would love to hear from you.
Happy Fryday, ya'll- in honor of being green, try ordering an organic beer this weekend. Woolavers and Peak Organic are both a great choice.
Love,
Say
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