by Maceo Carrillo Martinet
Daily Lobo columnist
Why should we be surprised to learn about the oil shortage that is starting to hit this generation?
If we combine our over-consumptive lifestyles with the fact that we have cut down entire landscapes of forests to suit our needs and wants, then why can't we also achieve in depleting oil? Don't we use our waterways to carry away our trash, causing people downstream to get sick and the fish to disappear or act abnormal? What makes us think we would treat the oil supply any differently? Running out of oil is just another example of how our lifestyles are catching up to us.
The shortage of cheap oil is a sign we are running out of oil supplies. It is also a sign the boards of directors of oil companies will continue to get filthy rich. While people are struggling to pay more for gas, oil companies are posting the highest profits ever reported by any industry in history.
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The fact that we are running out of oil is not just rhetoric coming from environmentally-conscious people - it is coming from the oil executives themselves. Consider this statement by Chevron's chairman in an advertisement that ran back in July: "One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over. Many of the world's oil and gas fields are maturing. And new energy discoveries are mainly occurring in places where resources are difficult to extract - physically, technically, economically and politically."
Another company line is that we have enough oil to meet the current level of consumption for at least another 40 years. But this line does not take into account the fact that our rate of global consumption is on the rise. In the last 10 years, especially with the industrial growth in China, the world consumption rate has increased 20 percent and is expected to increase in the coming decades.
Companies are starting to admit they are discovering less oil these days, and that the oil reserves we have are starting to run out. The energy consultant firm Wood Mackenzie conducted a report in which they found that only a quarter of the 28 leading oil companies active in international exploration - representing more than 30 percent of total world oil supply - have fully replaced their production through field discoveries.
According to Royal Dutch Shell company figures, for every four barrels of oil sold the company has found less than one barrel to replace it. Oil fields in Saudi Arabia need to be injected with several million barrels of sea water every day just to maintain the underground pressure needed to keep the oil flowing. Some companies are talking about extracting oil from unconventional sources such as oil sand, oil shale deposits and deep sea reserves, all of which are much more expensive and environmentally degrading than the extraction system we are dependent on.
We pride ourselves on living in a society that encourages us to consume as much as we want - or as much as our pocket books can take. Combine this sense of pride with the attitude that we are the best country on earth, and what you get is a great recipe for environmental destruction.
Something must be terribly wrong with a society that can deplete the resources on which it depends. Societies like these might bring you lots of comforts and gadgets that will keep you entertained today, but this way of life will not sustain us for tomorrow. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, this world contains enough to satisfy our needs but not to satisfy our greed.
Our culture, which is based on consumption and greed rather than reciprocity and respect, cannot make this a better place for our children. Deforestation, over-fishing, over-hunting and the imminent loss of oil are some of the legacies we are passing down to our children. I hope this generation will have the courage to see and speak to this truth. I hope this generation will generate a new sense of pride, attitude and ultimately a new form of energy.
