Mad Max, Marxism or a Middle Way? Life Beyond Oil

I’ll start this week’s blog by stating that, by nature, I’m a glass half full sort of bloke (preferably pinot noir…organic of course and from France!). Which means, in terms of the question above, I want to believe that we can find a route to life beyond oil that avoids the extremes of anarchy and apocalypse on the one hand and a state-dominated society on the other. This is probably a version of transition towns where ‘local’ becomes more important .
However, if I sit down and analyse the position I become more despondent. Why? Firstly, most individuals are ‘short- termists’ in view and by nature. This doesn’t mean they are not interested or don’t care about climate change (although according to a weekend poll a significant proportion in the UK are still in denial) as they want their kids to have a future. However, they are focused on the today – a job, feeding the family, getting their kids a good education and having a bit of fun along the way. This means that getting them to start thinking about the steps they as individuals need to take in the next decade to reduce oil dependency is difficult and will only happen as a result of a combination of incentives, taxes, education and changes to infrastructure. Even then it is a challenge – witness the problems governments have faced in getting people to face up to the need to save for retirement
Secondly, governments usually only have a 5 year time horizon which restricts their ability to think outside the standard Whitehall box and act creatively unless there is a crisis. There is a crying need to start to moving the tax system to one based on carbon usage, yet little appears to be happening in this area. Instead, they are looking for more of the same to try and raise revenue. I was hugely disappointed to hear this morning that the Chancellor is considering increasing the rate of National Insurance, an employment tax, to raise revenue – rather short-sighted at a time when there is a need to encourage employment. So, while I admire Gordon Brown’s stance on Climate Change on the world stage I’m hugely disappointed with what the government has(n’t) done. Why are we still contemplating a third run-way at Heathrow
Thirdly, whatever comes out of Copenhagen, demand for oil and other raw materials will continue to rise as China, India and the rest of the developed world continue to grow their economies. The need to satisfy demands at home will increase the risk of conflict over raw materials, water and food.
To finish on a more cheery note, I do think that technology offers hope. Developments in electric cars, renewables and the introduction of more efficient heating, lighting and other equipment will help us cope with life after. But will it be enough to avoid Mad Max?

Vegetarianism to reduce carbon emissions

I first came across this concept in the Geographical magazine a couple of years ago in an article on cattle and green house gases.
It is undoubtedly true that meat production, and particularly beef, is resource hungry,and that the growth in demand for beef has contributed to deforestation in Central and South America. There are also health issues associated with excess red meat consumption. And there are big issues regarding the standard of husbandry associated with meat production (industrial farming of pigs and chickens in particular), and big sustainability issues around fish stocks.
However, it's important to remember that much of the pasture used to rear livestock is not particularly well suited for crop production, either because of the soil or climate and therefore they would be limitations on increasing in arable farming. In addition there are a whole set of issues around freedom and culture that need to be considered.
On a personal level I've been vegetarian for short periods of time,a month or two when travelling in India and Nepal, but I very much enjoy meat and fish and would find it difficult to make the switch permanently. However, I can see the logic of reducing in meat consumption and could buy accept the idea of "Meat-free Mondays" or similar.
But before heading down this route there's alot of stuff we can do in areas such as reducing food waste that could have a significant impact in this area.