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Want to get out of Iraq? Stop
suburban sprawl!
Perspective on Globalization
By Jim Kunstler
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people of any political persuasion cry for America to
pull out of Iraq, what do they suppose will be the result?
That America will go back to being the same nation of
easy-motoring, McMansion-buying consumpto-trons we were
in 1999?
Things have changed. The world oil markets have changed.
Their stability through the 1990s was a transient phenomenon,
and a circumstance which, unfortunately, put us to sleep.
During that time, OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, was the
world's "swing producer" -- the oil producer
with spare capacity that could always open the valves
and pump more. And they did, even cheating on their
own official quotas, which only had the effect of flooding
the market with "product" and driving down
the prices -- so by the end of the last century oil
had sunk to $10 a barrel.
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That was great for America in the short term. It reinforced
the widespread illusion that the oil disruptions of the 1970s
were a shuck and jive. We ramped up all our car-dependent
behavior, built more malls and "lifestyle centers,"
carved more housing subdivisions in the farthest-out asteroid
belts of the metroplexes, bought cars the size of tactical
military vehicles, and acted as if this was a way of life
with a future.
Many things have changed. One is that a potent segment of
the Islamic world declared war on the west (jihad). Another
is that OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, has apparently lost its
spare capacity, and therefore its role as the world's swing
producer of oil. Another is that the North Sea and Alaskan
oil fields have passed their production peaks and are depleting
at phenomenal rates -- in the case of Great Britain's fields,
up to 50 percent a year -- because they were drilled so efficiently
with the latest technology. Yet another is that rising ocean
temperatures have led to several years of massive hurricanes
wreaking havoc among the oil and gas platforms of the US Gulf
Coast. Still another is the industrial turbo-expansion of
China and India, taking advantage of their ultracheap labor
to become the world's factories and back-offices, while jacking
up their oil consumption.
Oil trade has now become a dead heat race between supply
and demand, with demand looking like the stronger horse coming
into the home stretch. As it overtakes supply, even more strange
changes will unfold on the world scene. These are likely to
take the form of fierce geopolitical struggles to gain favor
in or control those regions that still have a lot of oil,
foremost the Middle East, with Iraq located at dead center
of it.
There is really only one condition that will allow us to
pull out of Iraq. That is if we make an enormous collective
effort to change our behavior here in North America; if we
break free from an economy pegged to suburban sprawl, reform
the way we do agriculture and retail trade, make substantial
investments in public transit and railroads in particular,
and practice fiscal restraint at every scale, including an
end to the reckless creation of mortgages.
Unless we face these facts and the tasks associated with
them, then we will find ourselves at the center of that geopolitical
struggle.Right now, nobody from any political stance is talking
about these facts and these tasks. Those in the anti-war movement
are by-and-large people who enjoy the same suburban "entitlements"
as the war-hawks. The anti-war leadership is even worse than
the pro-war leadership, because the war-hawks don't even pretend
to be interested in reforming the way we live -- they've declared
it "non-negotiable."If the anti-war movement has
a different idea, they sure haven't expressed it. If the Democratic
party were to take the lead in the anti-war movement, they
would have to start negotiations for changing the way we live
in this country. To evade the responsibility for this would
simply be cowardice. Leading sometimes means taking public
opinion into territory it hasn't been to before.
We're now entering that territory, by the way. Stealthily
over the past week, the price of natural gas has crept above
$14 a unit (one million btu's). Half the houses in America
are heated with the stuff. 90 percent of America's farm fertilizers
are made out of it. Above $14 really is uncharted territory.
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Vol.
I No. 7
Friday,
December 16, 2005
From all corners of the
county:
NewStory
Election Officials Defend
Security Measures
Clerk/Recorder will run for re-election to redefined post
Activists Confront Gallegos
Over Police Brutality Complaints
Bike-riding protestor charged with felony assault on police officer
Pulp Mill Pollution Resolution
Put Off
Activists decry use of private negotiations
in public process
County Gives Symbolic Backing
to Marriage Equality
Supervisor John Woolley to take over as Chair in 2006
Mayor Machi Retains Post
Councilmembers Meserve and Groves blasted
by public
Eureka Delays Waterfront
Choice Eco-hostel fans outnumbered Hampton supporters
four to one
Arcata Considers Homeless
Court Participation
Council looks to disentangle City from Mainstreet's failed B.I.D.
Board Approves Slate
of Headwaters Fund Grants
Local lobbying targets for reps in Sacramento and D.C. set
Court Land:
Quarter Mike
Flipped Over Bike Charges
Political theorists' attempt to transfer to Homeless Court denied
In the Know
What's the Buzz?:
On this Road, All that Glitters
Is Not Gold
The Prophecy of Has Beans and accidental joy at Kelly O’Brien’s
Film in Focus:
A Haunting Capote
Philip Seymor Hoffman finds triumph in stillness
Artistic License:
Understanding the Element
of a Band
Brilliant drudgery gives way to uber-dynamism
DV Indeed:
Have a Merry, Swashbuckling Christmas
South Pacific, Caribbean or a World
Tour with Peter Gabriel?
Film in Focus:
The Brooding Man in Black
Phoenix gives eerily accurate portrayal of Cash
Opinion
Editorials:
Democracy Unhinged
Fatally flawed ballot measure indicative of group out of touch with
their own values
Also...
Gotterdammerung for Bush
Thompson's Pro-Occupation
Shuffle
Getting Graphic:
Cheney Seen and Unseen
Comics skewer Veep
Guest Opinion:
Choking the Internet
How much longer will your favorite sites be online?
Letters to the Editor:
How Mainstream Can You Be?
Vagabond Journalist:
Rollin Richmond's Supreme
Hubris
Since when does HSU play a role in who serves as Mayor of Arcata?
Guest Opinion:
An Empire Without Virtue
The defenders of torture
Media Review:
The Low Power FM Fiasco
National Public Radio's scare campaign against community controlled
radio
Perspective on Globalization:
Uncharted Territory
Want to get out of Iraq?
Stop suburban sprawl!
Brick Burner:
Federal Food
Politics
Organic inconsistencies
Calendar: 12/16-12/22
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