Chapter 13: In Which Shantzy Pantz Predicts that an Overhaul of American Energy Usage Will Begin to Revive the Economy

During my recent reading on the economy (Paul Krugman, also NYTimes) I've come to the conclusion that this recession is based on the fact that we've come to the end of the fossil fuel road and will need to transition to a fundamentally different energy economy. I'm convinced of this because our energy usage is the basis of our economy and the ways in which we've used fossil fuels over the last century are nearing the end of their sustainability.

We've only used about half the oil in the world, but the second half will be exponentially harder to procure since:

1- We'll be fighting for it with an ever-more-powerful China
2- Its physically more difficult to extract. We've been picking the "low hanging fruit" since the beginning.
3- We'll begin to experience exponentially more severe climate consequences and even -I'll do my best to be diplomatic here- "those who dispute human responsibility for climate change" will have to admit that they would rather not have more tornadoes, drought/famine, global unrest, etc.

Basically the very thing that underpinned our economic growth over the last century is now becoming dead weight and will have to be jettisoned. Let China fight dirty with someone else over the last drops. Lets be the smart ones.

Its really a grand opportunity to cement America's world leadership role. You think we got kudos for electing a Black president? People will really stop hating us if we stop pumping CO2 into the atmosphere and propping up their dictators with bribes (from Harper's magazine, March 2009, Invisible Hands, bottom-left paragraph on p. 61) and oil profits.