Israel: Beyond the oil age

The oil age will end in our lifetime. Israeli clean-tech pioneers such as Rachel Bin-Nun (of Organitech), Isaac Berzin (who “struck oil” in algae) and Shai Agassi (of Project Better Place) are hastening that day. In truth, post-oil technologies are not so new. What is new is the convergence of three critical, global vectors that will make turning off the oil tap inevitable, and will change our world – soon and irrevocably. The vectors are environmental, economic and strategic.

…Our Jewish blindness to the meaning of oil has permitted us to project our own, pre-1948 narrative onto the present situation, convincing ourselves that our Middle Eastern neighbors – like the Nazis or the Russian czars or the ancient Egyptian pharaohs – are hell-bent on destroying the Jewish people. In reading our own victimhood into their web of extraction distraction, we have missed the main event of oil.

Turning off the oil tap in the Middle East will be a game-changer for Israel, the region and the world. After oil, the Arab regimes will lack the capacity to vilify and terrorize Israel. Israel (as one of the few non-oil driven economies in the region), will hold the keys to building a post-oil economy. After oil, Arab moderation might become fashionable. The question for those of us who esteem the earned value of creativity – the antithesis of the unearned wealth of extracted oil – and who love Israel, is, how should the Jewish people get ready for the waning of the oil age? How should we position ourselves to be a light unto nearby, and far-flung, nations and lead them out from under the curse of oil? How do we deserve this victory? Israel’s clean-tech pioneers provide some of the answers. The rest requires further discussion. The future is bright. Stay tuned.

Ha’aretz