The camels are coming, the camels are coming

CANADA – At a recent meeting of the Social Planning Council a participant at one of the discussion tables raised the subject of “Peak Oil”. Two of the eight people at the table had no idea what it meant.

Basically, Peak Oil is the end of cheap fuel, when we have used more than half of the Earth’s oil reserves and production decreases. It also relates to when we produce less oil than we use – that point has been reached, our demand now exceeds our production by about six per cent and the prices are rising.

A Saudi oil prince who understands said, “My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet airplane. His son will ride a camel.”

Folks at the Social Planning Council not only knew nothing about Peak Oil, they claimed it is not relevant to planning the next five years for our community. Anyone planning even a year into the future who does not seriously consider the growing oil crisis is wasting our time and doing a disservice to the Cowichan Valley.
What is not a waste of time is working together making plans, reasonable plans for a very uncertain future. We cannot merely revert to the pre-oil days of water and steam power. We have the science and technology to do better than that in making the transition to a different lifestyle.

Duncan News Leader & Pictorial