ADPblog
Tuesday,
May 16, 2006
Patriot
on a bike
As a ten year old
living outside Boston, I was riveted by the bicentennial of Patriots Day. The
true Patriot’s Day - April 19th, 1775 -
when the “shot heard round the world” was fired at Lexington and
Concord. I was engrossed with the drama of Paul Revere’s ‘midnight ride’ to
alert the Minutemen/farmers to grab their muskets and run to protect their leaders and munitions.
Revere heralded a threat to their freedoms and on a minute's notice they acted.
Ideals of freedom and independence animated the revolution in a way that’s lost
to us today. After all, how can an addict - by definition ‘dependent’ - be
truly free? And according to our own President we are addicted - to oil.
What
happened? Like the minutemen, we were warned. In 1956, a
bespectacled geo-physicist—M. King Hubbert -faced the American Petroleum
Institute and predicted that US oil production would reach peak output around
1970. His employer, Shell Oil, asked him to retract his prediction, but
he did not. He was correct and his theories are now broadly
accepted. Dubbed “Hubbert’s Curve” ,
he showed that oil supply follows a predictable bell-like curve;
reaching a peak, followed by decline. Now, a mass of evidence indicates
we are near if not past peak production globally. If so, the advent of an
unprecedented world-wide energy crisis is upon us.
Conservation
and development of alternative fuels are essential but not enough. Taken alone,
they may even feed our denial. The simple truth is that our “way of life”
and prosperity are premised on cheap and plentiful petroleum. If that premise
changes, society must do likewise. A drop in oil supply will intensify global
competition for it. To maintain our easy-motoring, “non-negotiable”
lifestyle, more wars are likely and a permanent Middle East presence
essential. Anti-war bumper stickers on gas-guzzlers cruising around the
suburbs will be ironic if not delusional.
Unlike
our forebears, who needed only their musket, courage and two legs to protect
their freedoms, we addicts are dependent on events and leaders in countries
beyond our control. Only an addict would shamefully ask others to
sacrifice their lives while remaining unwilling to sacrifice their own
lifestyle.
What’s
a true patriot to do? Even our food depends on petroleum as fertilizer
and feed supplement. Change will come. Avoiding tumultuous economic and
social upheaval will depend on whether we, like the Minutemen, heed the call to
act. Yet the media ignores the global oil peak and politicians’ actions
(such a recent talk about a tax credit to offset high gas prices) suspiciously
resemble voter-appeasing bribes and pretexts to undermine environmental
protections. In short, our leaders offer
little more than helping us find our next fix.
Patriots
today must act independently—and we have choices. We can buy locally and
invest responsibly. Live and shop in walkable communities. Use more rail
and bikes. Simple acts individually can collectively prompt infrastructure
changes. It’s already happening! Increased use is pressuring the South
Shore Line to build more rail cars. This week local bike coalitions are
promoting National Bike to Work week while advocating for more bike paths and
safety lanes. You can act by biking to work and checking their website—Michiana Bicycle
Association (MBAbike.com)—for
ideas.
Change
isn’t easy, but compared to those who, in 1775, left their families deep in the
night to defy the world’s superpower, riding a train or biking to work is
hardly a profound sacrifice. M. King Hubbert observed, “Our ignorance is not so vast as our
failure to use what we know”. Like
the minutemen, we citizen-patriots need to use our heads, hearts and even our
legs again. We need courage to act and even sacrifice to preserve our freedoms.
Contributed by David J. Hurley on
05/16/2006
Active Citizenship • Radio Essays • Permalink • Printer Friendly
Active Citizenship • Radio Essays • Permalink • Printer Friendly
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