Column: Getting ready for the end of oil

Where will you be when all the oil is gone?

How will you get your food, heat your home and get to work?

We may not be around when the last drop burns away, but a 37-year-old Wayland Middle School teacher has taken on the task of convincing us to prepare for that day.
The answer for Aaron Wissner lies in rethinking our society so people and communities become more self-sufficient.

His efforts drew the attention of The Wall Street Journal. Last weekend, the paper published a front-page story in which Wissner was the lead example of what it said is a growing movement among Americans who believe in the “peak oil” theory.

That is the idea that the world’s oil production is about to peak and then head down toward zero, eventually triggering worldwide economic turmoil.

After the story ran, I called the computer teacher at his home outside Middleville.

Wissner said he encountered the theory and its stark vision of the future about 30 months ago. Since then, he has become a proponent for change.

Listening to him, you realize he is educated and articulate.

But you also wonder whether he is a 21st century version of a counter-culture survivalist or is seeing the future more clearly and — more painfully — than the rest of us.

He paints the future as a train wreck that is all but inevitable: Skyrocketing oil prices, hyper inflation, scarce food and fuel, the loss of electricity, banks failing, worthless money and, ultimately, global chaos.

MLive