Convenience is a Word in the Dictionary

We as a population have become addicted to convenience, even if it takes an engineering degree to figure out all the functions of the item we have acquired. Many products have had a swift demise when the public decided they weren’t convenient enough. When we start the long decline of the oil age, what happens to convenience? It suffers. Greatly! What happens to the public addicted to convenience? They will whine and cry out in anguish. Greatly!

Looking back over the last 30 years or so, it is amazing what items we have had introduced into our lives, that now we think we can’t live without. Back in the dark ages 30 years ago, there were no cell phones, CDs, easily available FAX, digital photography, affordable microwaves, PCs, internet, TVs above 25 inches, cordless anything that worked for more than 15 minutes, Weather Channel, GPS, laser pointers, scanners, color printers or copiers, and many more items of convenience. It took 30 years for all those to become ingrained into our lives. When the slide starts downhill for oil production, many of these could disappear in 5 years or less.

Looking back in history, very little in folks everyday lives was convenient just 125 years ago. They didn’t consider things or circumstances being inconvenient, that’s just the way life was. Then the Sears Catalog arrived on the scene. All of a sudden people became aware that there were more convenient ways to accomplish everyday tasks. Convenience leapt out of the dictionary to become a part of our society going forward. If one were to look back at what our forefathers considered a great leap forward in introducing convenience in their lives, we would be appalled. Washboards, kerosene lamps, wood burning cook stoves, and other such merchandise that reduced everyday chores from many hours down to an hour or two were the absolute necessities of the day.

Now we are faced with a scenario where we may have to embrace some of the older technology to keep functioning. Just about any task you can think of today, will probably be inconvenient in the future. Go to the Dr? Takes an hour or two today. Unless you live across the street from their office, it will be inconvenient to get there in the future. For those who live in smaller cities and communities without public transportation, the loss of convenience will be a bitter pill to swallow. Need to make a cake? You may have to ride a bicycle to 5 or 6 places to find all the ingredients.

Just recently there was an article that stated the biggest steamship companies running the container ships have had to re-engineer their ships to run at slower speed to reduce fuel consumption, so slow in fact, that they were slower than the clipper sailing ships of the 1870s. What happens when fuel is actually in short supply? The Pilgrims may have made better time than ships in two or three years. All those containers on the container ships are filled with convenience. Slower and fewer ships will deliver less and less convenience in the coming decade. We will all adjust, but with fond memories of how it used to be. A generation down the road may again only know convenience as a word in the dictionary.

Peak Oil Blues