As horrifying as this disaster is, I think painting oil as some minor convenience that spoiled fat Americans narcissistically demand is disingenuous.
People forget that the alternative to oil was either whale blubber or armies of horses that left cities knee deep in shit (literally.) The fact is that oil was a technology that substantially decreased pollution. The proof of that is that water and air quality has been improving steadily over the years since the 1800's (partly because of legislation, but largely because of technology. You can't legislate away horse manure - but you can legislate cars with cleaner engines.)
So yeah, I look forward to the day when oil is obsoleted in favor of some magic green energy source that produces no pollution (although rest assured, people will find something else to bitch and moan about.) Until then, I'll breathe a silent "thank you" to the grimiest oil refinery out there for making my life that much easier.
It's not either-or. We can use oil, while still asking the question, do we need to use so much, and do we need to push so hard to get more? You don't have to stop using oil entirely tomorrow to be concerned that the returns we get from what we're doing now are not worth the damage.
Things like conservation are about optimizing the last 5%, which in the long run (unfortunately) doesn't matter too much. Technological development is more of a punctuated equilibrium than a gradual upward slope.
So really the best thing to do is leave things alone until oil becomes scarce (i.e. expensive) and an alternative will be developed. Any attempt to legislate conservation will just result in us burning more oil for longer.
So really the best thing to do is leave things alone until oil becomes scarce (i.e. expensive) and an alternative will be developed.
Best thing to do for whom? You're saying that if we continue to find oil for 300 more years, we just keep burning it? That seems pretty awful. The technology has already been developed (Denmark, for instance, is getting a quarter of it's electricity from wind power)--why wait?
I'd argue that the best thing to do would be to rapidly transition to the cleaner, more renewable sources of energy that already exist (wind, water, sun, even natural gas) while drastically altering lifestyles to reduce the need for such massive amounts of energy. Maybe the economy (stock market) get's screwed up for a little while, but hell, it's already screwed up, right?
Any attempt to legislate conservation will just result in us burning more oil for longer.
if we continue to find oil for 300 more years, we just keep burning it?
Someone will, absolutely. First world nations will have the wealth and access to innovations to convert to cleaner energy but the poor majority of the world will increasingly create the demand. Oil is too easy and efficient to just ignore. As I see it the only options to stop this would be to build clean energy sources for the entire world which seems nearly impossible, destroy or prevent access to the remaining oil sources, or occupy and repress these poor countries to actively prevent them from burning oil. The later two options would almost certainly start World War 3. The first option is ideal but not very realistic. We are OK letting these same people die due to lack of basic medical care and clean water. What are the chances we help them convert to clean energy? Without some massive global catastrophe to change the game letting the oil run out is the most peaceful and realistic approach in my opinion.
The other alternative is to increase grants and incentives to push the breakthrough faster.
I've heard people say that there is still much to invent in terms of making a better power source, which made it seem as though it was simply a problem of money and manpower.
Yea it really sucks having to sit next to somebody else on the way to work. Especially if they are really fat. Of course you need a 2 tonne truck to get to work as well, cause smaller cars or motorbikes just aren't safe enough with all those 2 tonne trucks on the road.
It's all cost/benefit but in the 21st century I think we can afford to change the balance.
People forget that the alternative to oil was either whale blubber or armies of horses that left cities knee deep in shit (literally.) The fact is that oil was a technology that substantially decreased pollution. The proof of that is that water and air quality has been improving steadily over the years since the 1800's (partly because of legislation, but largely because of technology. You can't legislate away horse manure - but you can legislate cars with cleaner engines.)
So yeah, I look forward to the day when oil is obsoleted in favor of some magic green energy source that produces no pollution (although rest assured, people will find something else to bitch and moan about.) Until then, I'll breathe a silent "thank you" to the grimiest oil refinery out there for making my life that much easier.