James Howard Kunstler at Schenectady County Community College
James Kunstler delivered a passionate, no bullshit lecture last night and I was there to hear him speak. While the talk was largely just a recap of his book "The Long Emergency", it was interesting to stick around for the more "off the cuff" Q&A session afterwards. I didn't learn much, but I liked thinking about other people's perspectives and line of questioning. As Kunstler said, in the future Americans will probably need to attend many more meetings to discuss local economic & energy issues. I feel like I broke the seal last night, since this was my first local energy "talk". I'm quite sure it won't be the last.
Kunstler ran through the peak oil problem and railed against the easy motoring society he so clearly detests. He claimed his was a message of hope, but it's difficult to find a ray of hope when you've been buried under an avalanche of bad news including: peak oil, global warming, misallocation of resources, psychology of pre-investment, stupid zoning & land use law and 3,000 mile ceasar salads. Kunstler just about burst an artery discussing the state of our rail system. He also stressed that there isn't any time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves.
All valid points. I'm on board, though somewhat fatigued by the prospect of what lies ahead.
Someone asked what Kunstler himself has done to prepare for the long emergency. I was a bit taken back to find out that - other than choosing to rent (close to his downtown area) rather than own - he really hasn't done much. That's telling. Nobody knows what is going to happen in the future. In fact, there could be more conventional oil out there to be discovered and produced. That would delay the onset of any emergency. Then again, Ghawar could collapse tomorrow and the emergency would begin in earnest, and unstoppable.
Nobody knows. We'll just have to see what happens. In the meantime, get out of debt and move closer to where you work.
