California must wake up to looming fuel crisis

I lived in Berkeley for 16 years before getting around to stashing my 5 gallons of water and 20 cans of fruit cocktail. I’m as ready as can be for the big earthquake we’re all waiting for. But what I’m not prepared for – what virtually no Californian is prepared for – is the other Big One: peak oil.

That’s the day when we hit the tipping point, when demand for oil exceeds the supply.


Like it or not, oil fuels the engines of industrialized economies. In California, we burn through nearly 20 billion gallons of the stuff each year just driving around. Then there’s the oil we use to grow and transport food and pump water, the oil that fuels planes, trains and cargo ships, and the oil that is embedded in every computer, every inch of asphalt and every bit of plastic. So imagine my surprise when I learned that oil supplies are running out – and that the federal government is doing nothing to prepare for it.

Speculation regarding the human impact of oil shortages runs the gamut from a deep recession to a second Great Depression to widespread famine and social disintegration. As an urban dweller with two kids, a 40-square-foot yard and little ability to keep houseplants alive, much less grow my own food, words like “famine” and Web sites like www.dieoff.org tend to hit my panic button.

SF Chronicle