Published in 2005, The Long Emergency takes a look at the western world, primarily the United States, as we leave the days of “cheap energy” behind us.
From the jacket cover:
The industrialized world is built on cheap energy. Over the past century, we have used the stored energy of millions of years of sunlight—in the form of oil, coal, and natural gas—to create the marvels and miracles essential to modern life. But now the cheap fossil-fuels fiesta is ending, climate change is upon us, and our models of global industry, commerce, food production and transportation may not survive. Industrial civilization is in big trouble, and the American people are sleepwalking into a future of hardship and turbulence.
The author (James Kunstler) discusses these particular problems as we move into this period. From our food to our clothing, most everything we consume is produced “elsewhere” and shipped in. Bananas from Africa are only here because it’s cheap to ship them in. A drive to Blockbuster on Friday night is compliments of cheap gas. Vacations in Europe, (or either cost, for that matter) are enjoyed simply because we can get there at a reasonable cost.
Mr. Kunstler points out that our lives will become intensely “local” claiming that it will be more difficult for Americans, simply because we’ve “zoned” production away from where we live. Farmland no longer exists outside our central cities, and in fact, we produce little, if anything, of what we need to exist, within proximity to our cities.
The discussion also turns to oil producing nations, faced with their own challenges, of supporting populations in geographic areas that are only inhabitable (water, cooling, etc…) due to income produced from oil. The world’s population is as high as it is because cheap energy has sustained it.
Competition for the remaining oil increases, too, he states, as newly industrialized nations, such as China and India add to the global need, thus driving up prices for everyone.
ISBN: 0-87113-888-3
