(recovered from Google cache, thanks Google!) I have received a few emails this week regarding my weekly TalkCast, Rebuilding Eden, from some of my listeners on TalkShoe.com. Two of them stood out as they shared nearly identical opinions on the topics that we have been discussing recently, Peak Oil and Global Warming. Each of the listeners stated that they enjoyed the TalkCast, but had some reservations as to the relevancy of the information with regards to their own situations. The first argued that “We may not see any serious effects from Global Warming for years or even decades”. The second that “By the time we reach Peak Oil, the new technology will be there to relieve our needs”. In both cases I hope they are correct, but as we all know, hope is not a strategy.

As I was reading the news earlier this week I came across an article in The Detroit News entitled “Michigan dips below U.S. Median for 1st time”. The article went on to describe that for the first time in history, the median houshold income for the people of Michigan had fallen below the median houshold income for the nation. Twenty-five years ago the median household income in Michogan was ranked 8th in the nation. Today it is 22nd. Nearly everyone in the country can tell you that it is due to the decline of the auto industry. Nearly everyone in the country can probably say “Yeah, I saw this coming a few years ago for Michigan”.

In fact, it is pretty easy as a retrospective to say “Gee, this decline has been coming since the mid seventies”. It was in the mid seventies that we experienced peak oil within the United States. Our reaction was immediate (for a country that is) and Detroit went to action with the Pinto, the AMC Gremlin and a host of small, economical cars. Heck, even the Muscular Mustang was remade as the 4 cylinder pony car of 1974. Americans adapted, begrudgingly as it was, to the changes coming from Detroit. Americans adapted to Jimmy Carter asking us to “Turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater”.  Then, something interesting happened.

Saudi Arabia and the United States struck a strange sort of deal. A sort of protection for oil deal where the military might built up during the Vietnam War would be partially redeployed to the Gulf to protect the Saudi Houses interests. For this protection, the U.S. would be guaranteed all the oil we could drink and, more importantly, all OPEC block oil would be traded exclusively in dollars. I will talk more on that another day, but suffice it to say that he who borrows too much money to support a war, in this case Vietnam, needs a miracle such as this to get out of such a bind. It was, in fact, a sweet deal all the way around.

Unfortunately, it was a sweet deal that focused on the short term. The short term in this case being 25-30 years. Cars grew again back into the roaring behemouths that Americans love to drive. Gas sucking, toxin spewing, profit making gigantic SUVs. Life was good. We’d have three decades to worry about running out of oil so it was full steam ahead. At this point I am reminded of the 40 page research paper assigned at the beginning of the semester. Suffice it to say that for the American Auto Industry it is 4 pm on the last Friday of the semester and the paper, yet to be started, is due on Monday. Worse yet, the Teamsters refuse to work the weekend, the suppliers only make repair part anymore and the Management hasn’t picked a topic for the paper anyway.

The point of the matter is this. Yes, some of the topics we discuss at RebuildingEden.com and on our TalkCast (Saturday Night, 11:00PM EST at TalkShoe.com) are designed to sound the alarm for potential future events. Yes, there is a chance that as a country we will be able to avoid some of the negative effects of these issues. Finally, Yes, it make take some time before we see the worst of these effect. But the reality is also this: When you combine the stressors being placed upon our country as a whole and weight them against the reaction of the country as a whole, it looks a lot like Detroit in the mid-1980’s. And we all know how that one is turning out.