The Revolution will not be televised

"The Revolution will not be televised," as the Last Poets advised three and a half decades ago..." (From the Wilderness)

There are changes coming to America and most American's have no clue. The end of the great Petro-comsumer-capitalism experiment is almost at hand. Give or take 5 to 10 years, or less. The current Great American Lifestyle is based on cheap and readily available petrochemicals. From fertilzers that provide bumper crops, to gasoline that power the humongous Hummers this country has reaped the benefits of this ubiquitous energy source. But the end is in sight. Peak Oil is the nomenclature for the fact that half of the worlds total supply of oil is already gone. The rest of the oil is will very expensive, very had to get, and the source of major global conflicts.

If you do not think that we are in fact running out of oil, consider this. Dick Cheney, the man who made sneering practically an Olympic Event, is right now in Canada demanding the US share of Tar Sands in Alberta. If you don't know it, Tar Sands are extremely difficult to mine, enormously expensive, and massively polluting. Now, why would the "oil man" himself be up there grabbing Tar Sands if the Oil from the Middle East was plentiful? It's like turning down a seven course meal at Spago's to go Dumpster Diving. The answer is obvious: There ain't much oil left in the Middle East.

Additionally, on NBC news on Tuesday 8/17/05, they had a report on refinery capacity in the United States. The report said that there is only one (count em) one new oil refinery in the planning stages, and it won't be ready until 2010. This report went on to say that American Refinery capacity is at maximum and if we had more refineries the price of gas would be lower. At this moment, the Oil Companies are making well over 200% profit, they are rolling in money. If they expanded their refineries they could make even more money. So why aren't they building more refineries? Likewise, they are not building any new oil tankers. Why? The answer is obvious: They KNOW there ain't much oil left in the Middle East. Oil companies are not going to invest billions of dollars in these enterprises because they know they will not get their money back out of them.

Every day demand for this precious substance increases, not only from America, but from China, India and a host of other countries and peoples. Every body wants oil. Everybody wants to have the Great American Life Style. The truth is, no one will have The Great American Life Style because oil is running out.

" Nearly 20 oil-exporting countries are past their peak in production. Also, Saudi Arabia is showing signs of leveling off. Another sign of dwindling geological resources is when industry does not invest in drilling new wells - despite record profits for oil - and rather buys up oil reserves via corporate mergers. "Refining capacity is almost maxed out, but industry sees little point in building more refineries when crude supply is in doubt," Lundberg added. World discoveries peaked by 1965, and the trend in declining discovery is unalterable. U.S. production peaked in 1970..." (Culture Change)

The mainstream media will not discuss this because the Bush Administration tells them what to report and the Bushites do not want this story told. They don't want the American people to wise up, because there is still great profit in oil for Bush and his minions. And informed people would demand a change, and loss of profits. So "Screw em", Bush says.

But what happens when the oil really is gone? The American way of life will be gone.

What "American lifestyle"? what kind of Civilization do we really have right now? The absurdity of American life is pronounced and mostly ignored.

"Not only have global warming and a massive wave of extinction been irrevocably launched; a road-based transportation mode has overrun much of the planet, and petrochemicals are an unmitigated disaster despite their convenience and versatility. An overall replacement for the dysfunctional fossil-fueled system is the honoring of the Earth's natural processes that provided wise tribes with the wherewithal to live for millennia. This statement is a heresy to those who love today's cities and who therefore would only reform our terminal civilization. It is as if their fossil-fuel tradition is deeply rooted..."

Wow, what a statement. It is as if the "fossile-fuel traditon" is deeply rooted in history. But it is not. For thousands and thousands of years humanity has lived in tribes and families. it is only been reletively recently that we have moved into great 'societies' and so called 'civilization'.

And these 'civilizations' have fallen. Mayan, Greek, Easter Island, Zulu, Han Dynasty, Norse. All across the globe and all across history, great civilizations has arisen and fallen. But this civilization has a difference, it is global.

"...Most of the world's people are assaulted daily by commercialism and toxicity as an extension of capitalistic exploitation...".

American influence is global. American power is global. American economic strangleholds are global. But America is based on cheap, readily available oil. When this is no longer avaible, America will fall. The Global networks will fall.

What will be left? The Family and the tribe.

"...The tribe, in fact, is just a wonderfully efficient social organization that renders making a living easy for all -- unlike civilization, which renders it easy for a privileged few and hard for the rest... The tribal way isn't [necessarily] the right way, it's just a way that worked for millions of years, in contrast to the hierarchal way, which has brought us face to face with extinction after a mere ten thousand years."

But for this to happen not only will civilization have to fall, but huge numbers of human beings will perish as well. A great die off is coming. Why? At present the huge numbers of humanity are based on readily available, nutricious food. Lots of it and easily had. The reason for this is due to Petroleum. Fertilizer, pesticides, herbecides, allowed for bumper crops of grain. Gasoline powers huge tractors and combines and trucks to till the soil, reap the harvest, deliver the goods. Take away the fertilizer and gasoline and all the rest and the bumper crops are gone. No food, no humans.

Right now, in American store's is only enough food to last 2-3 days. More is brought in each day by trucks. STop the trucks and you stop the food. Make fuel much more expensive, you make food much more expensive, both from the farm and the delivery angle.

Right now, much of America's food comes from great distances, sometimes even across the oceans. What happens when the food is no longer delivered, or that which is delivered is extremely expensive? The American way of life which is totally dependent on having everything we want, and having it right now is heading for a cliff edge.

In Culture Change

"The American people are a mix of docility and violence. The abuse they have taken has only grown, while they are told this is the pinnacle of any nation's success. But everybody knows that quality-of-life indicators are overall still going downward after decades of consumerism and loss of pristine nature. What people don't know is how much worse the raw deal has been all along, and that it is all going to come crashing down -- the good and the bad."

There are good aspects to America. Sometimes we really do help the poor and disadvantaged. Our techological achievements have been impressive. Our massive farms and pig feedlots, our enormous protein rich diets, our consumer goods, our luxury goods, our toys, our medicines and medical care, these are all wonders of the modern age.

We even had a system of government that allows for change, a peaceful transfer of power, without armed rebellions. But now, of course, we have a system of government that does not allow rebellion of any sort. As for "peaceful transfer of power", this is now accomplished by having no viable alternative political party. Of course it is 'peaceful' they are handing power back over to themselves.

Beyond our technology however, we have created a failed political system and a culture so riddled with the desperate chase for money and material goods that we have lost humanity. Capitalism is a rapacious vicious beast that must be fed fresh victims everyday to survive. Capitalism, rather than Democracy, is really the true governmental system now ruling the United States.

"The overclass or the top one percent of the population now makes more than the bottom 95 percent. The unaccounted 4 percent are of course the pit-bulls, also known as the middle managers or pastors, who serve their masters for a little bit more than nothing. Capitalism loves people, it feeds on people. Peak Capitalism runs on disposable workers and cheap energy. It thrives on relentlessly escalating consumption to serve ever-increasing consumer population. Its mantra of success is exponential growth: exponential growth in the use of resources and energy, exponential growth in the production of goods and money supply, exponential growth in the worker-consumer population. The rabbit is safe, but only if he runs faster than yesterday." (Culture Change)

Our whole system of values in this civilization is based on 'more'. Growth is always labeled good, even when growth is destructive and counterproductive. WE are so brainwashed that we believe all never ending growth is desirable, when it really is the problem, not the solution.

But change is coming, and it will not be growth. Just the opposite, it will be a retrenchment, a reduction in everything Americans now hold dear. American culture will not survive, many Americans will not survive. Those that do, will do so because they will connect with their commuity to answer the call of change. They will begin growing their own food, they will ensure their water supplies are safe. They will team up with others to create a new community based on localized supplies, trade, barter, and travel. Suburbia is dead, instead new communities will arise, small towns if you will. Those that plan ahead will be ahead, those that continue to invest in 401(k), pile up debt, believe the governments promises, and listen only to mainstream news will probably die. Or at the very least suffer considerably. Your job and your retirement savings will not save you, what will is your willingness to accept change and to plan for the collapse of the petro-civilizations.