Oil is just a blip in time

You don’t have to be a peak oil doom-monger to find the latest report from the International Energy Agency scary reading. It’s fair to say that current Western civilisation would not be possible without oil; this report predicts a supply crunch within five years, forcing prices up with predictably dire consequences. Dearer oil is obviously great for the oil majors, but for everyone else it’s even more disruptive than rising interest rates. At least the latter benefit savers; rising energy prices hit everyone. If oil prices stay high, it will be a shot in the arm for alternative energy. But what of the longer term?

Looking a generation and more ahead, the unspoken truth about the looming oil crisis is that the so-far inexorable march of globalisation should not be taken for granted. In the great: sweep of history, the 200-year-old oil age may be seen as a blip before a return to a more sustainable, more local economic system. That said, I won’t be betting my pension on it.

What you can do

Explore the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, a holistic way of understanding livelihoods, which reduces oil dependency: livelihoods.org