If Gas Suddenly Cost $100 a Gallon, Could You Survive?
Author: Nick
Category: Money
Topics: economy, energy
According to some guy who thought we were all gonna die on Y2K, the skyrocketing price of oil may soon doom suburbia. In place of the sprawling suburban landscape will be a return to small towns situated around retail hubs with everything in walking or bicycle distance. You’ll travel between towns by trains powered by enslaved poor people, and you’ll never eat fruit out of season again.
Okay, so maybe this guy’s just a bit of a nut-job and the future of American society isn’t that grim (or hopeful, depending on how you view suburbia). But there’s no debating that today’s world of the 100-mile commute only came about thanks to gobs and gobs of dirt cheap oil. If anything ever happened to that cheap oil, a lot of things we take for granted today would become a thing of the past.
So what would super-expensive oil mean for your life? Well, if you buy into the end-of-the-world theory, then things would quiet down pretty quickly after an initial few months of rioting that would leave millions dead of violence or starvation. Those small towns I mentioned would start to form gradually with support from local farms and nearby light manufacturing. If your current career is physician, barber, handyman, or prostitute, you’d continue in your profession; otherwise, you’ll become a common laborer hopping from job to job.
The good news is that all of those environmental catastrophes that scientists are predicting for us would go away because nobody would be paying scientists to make those sort of predictions anymore. The air would become cleaner, people would get more exercise from walking and performing more physical work, and the average American’s quality of life would ultimately reach a new high. Eventually your town would put up one of those adorable signs that says “Name of Town, Population: Some Teeny Number.”
Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever end up like this because most people would probably shoot themselves before giving up their automobiles. Or perhaps science will invent us a way out of this with a cheaper, renewable alternative energy source that will be quickly adopted and is already available in large quantities. And if not, when we’re lining up to exchange our office jobs for small-town work, I call blacksmith.
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9 Responses »
1.
Kyle
May 5th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I very often find myself wanting to do a ctrl-f when I’m reading a newspaper article. Personally I think life would rock with $100 oil.
2.
Maria @ Financial-Tip
May 5th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Clever and funny cartoon, as always.
In seriousness … I think local food will be a crucial part of peak oil survival, if peak oil is a valid theory and if oil stays above $100+ a barrel. I’ll be blogging about this tomorrow (May 6).
Oh and by the way? That “nut job” you referenced addresses your theory that some invention will replace our dependence on oil. So far, there’s nothing in the pipeline (har, har) to replace cheap oil. Nothing, nada.
3.
Solar Lights
May 5th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Hilarious cartoon, the blogger one cracked me up.
To do with transportation though. We’ve had feet since we existed, we can use them if all else goes to hell.
4.
Chris
May 6th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I bet Segway is hoping for $100/gallon gas…
5.
C.W.Holeman III
May 7th, 2008 at 1:13 am
It’s too late! I’ve already called blacksmith.
But seriously, I disagree with what you said, “Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever end up like this because most people would probably shoot themselves before giving up their automobiles.”
It’s the loss of the net that will be sending them from the tops of sky scrapers.
6.
Monty Loree
May 7th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I’m riding my bicycle to get in shape. So… I’m gas price insensitive right at the moment.
If people can’t drive any more, maybe they’ll stay home more and visit with neighbors more instead of filling the void by shopping for useless items at the mall.
Less driving means more wholesome living.
7.
Chris
May 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am
What I don’t get is why does the news have to report a “New Record Oil Prices” everyday. Am I the only who feels it’s slightly redundant to recycle the exact same story everyday.
Too bad we killed all the Buffalo herds some 130 years ago, we could all become Indians again, I say ‘we’, because ‘we’ killed all them too, oops
8.
Solar Lights
May 8th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
We still have buffalo, I saw some last summer came within 10 ft of my car and I never noticed the bugger.
9.
rstlne
May 8th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I hope we would’ve switched to geothermal, solar, wind power, or something else by that time.
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