Talking with folks back home, there isn’t an acceptance that oil is going to become much more expensive and that’s going to change the way we live. It’s not really understood here, but the price of oil has increased 4 times in the last 5 years for Australia, which is kindof significant.
When it comes down to it, the way that we live isn’t sustainable. Expectations of owning a car, cheap energy, easily available out-of-season foods just aren’t reasonable. One nation using 1/4 of the oil used in the world (that’s the US, using 20 million barrels of oil a day), and expectations that Saudi oil output (the most significant output in the world) will only be increased by a maximum of 2.5 million barrels per day over the next 7 years (according to the Bank of Montreal, Saudi oil company Armco says only 800,000 in the same time), and pressure from the growing Chinese economy - 1.3 billion people vs the US’s 300 million, all wanting the American lifestyle - mean that, while there’s still lots of oil in the ground, there’s a lot more people wanting it, which makes it more and more expensive.
Oh, and it’s getting more expensive to extract, both financially and environmentally, as areas like Alberta’s tar sands are seen as potential sources. Ick.
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