High gas prices portend ‘The Long Emergency’

Just about anyone who’s filled up at the pumps in the past few days knows gas prices are at record highs.

In most Canadian cities, retail gas prices topped $1.10 per litre last week. The increasingly high cost of filling up is no surprise considering that on Wednesday crude oil hit a trading record and topped the US$112 mark.


While many drivers may be concerned about the short-term drain that gas prices are having on their wallets, author and activist James Howard Kunstler says the bigger problems associated with oil and gas are profound, long-range, and irreversible.

Kunstler believes that what drivers are witnessing now is only a glimpse into what the future holds for society as a whole — a future that will force communities around the world to restructure the way they’re organized.

Kunstler has outlined his vision of the future in his latest novel, “World Made by Hand,” which draws on themes he’s established in his non-fiction works such as “The Long Emergency.” He believes the impending oil shortage will affect not only transportation, but also agriculture and trade.

“We’re going to have to live a lot more locally. We will have to produce food a lot more locally. Agriculture will return to become much closer to the center of our economic life,” he said.

CTV