The Times They Are A Changing

As I flipped through the TV channels last week looking for something worthwhile to
watch I came across an interview with a futurist that got my attention. Guess what
the topic was. Yup, the rising cost of a barrel of oil. This fellow was an expert
on oil and he had some very interesting things to say that we all need to hear and
think about.

He pointed out that there will be some unavoidable changes that will happen in our
life styles once oil hits the two hundred dollar a barrel price tag. Things will
change because they have to.

People will move closer to their work place. More of us will be returning to the
inner city cores out of necessity. Two car families will go down to one car
families or none. More people will walk or ride their bikes to and from work. I
thought to myself some of these things are already starting to happen now.

Less food and items will be transported by trucks and companies will go back to
using the railway more and more. Hmm, I thought that might be good for us here in
Capreol but bad for those in the trucking industry. I also thought about the
railway lines in our area that have been torn up once the mining companies decided
it was cheaper to use those huge trucks we meet on our roads for transporting their
ore. I wonder if they will come to regret that was done now.

The truckers who move the ore in this area are already working under a contract that
cannot be broken at this time even though the cost of diesel fuel has gone so high.
I understand that one of the reasons the mining industry prefers to use trucks is
because they can get the job done much quicker with trucks than when they use the
rails. However, they may have to go back to using rail again.

Fewer planes will be flying in a future of high oil costs. The average person won’t
be able to afford the price of an airplane ticket to travel for pleasure. People
will have to adjust to a simpler life style, probably closer to the one I grew up
in. Back then we had only what we needed and we were oblivious to all the extras we
consider we require in this day and age.

The car industry and others were slow to realize this was coming our way. They
didn’t catch on to the need for energy efficient cars and trucks. Yet in Europe in
some areas people are paying the equivalent of ten dollars a litre and have been for
some time now. We on this side of the world have been fortunate until now.

This is the “Plastic Age”, a time when most things are either made of plastic or
contain plastic parts and plastic is an oil product. Perhaps these products will be
replaced with metal and finally last like they used to. One simple thing we can do
to reduce oil consumption is to stop using plastic grocery bags and revert back to
cloth or paper.

One of the saddest comments I heard in that interview was the fact that the majority
of our goods will probably still come from China. The buck stores with their poorly
made merchandise will become the five buck store instead. The companies who have
taken our jobs over there will just pass the high shipping costs onto us. “That we
need to nip in the bud” thought I. Would boycotting their goods help I wonder? Are
we so far taken over that there is no return to our manufacturing sector coming home
again?

The one positive thought that crossed my mind in all of this was “Thank the good
Lord I live in a small community like Capreol”. We have the ability to be self
contained here. Thanks to the return of a very nice grocery store and the
businesses that we have we can pretty much get anything that we may need without
leaving our town. It would be nice to see more businesses spring up along our main
street like we had at one time and give them our support as well wouldn’t it?

I am very thankful that we do have Doctors in our community but the one thing that
we lack closer to our home is a hospital. It seems we will always have to head for
Sudbury when we need that service. Hopefully that facility will be a good one that
is well equipped for all our needs and that of the entire area.

I have already started to make fewer trips into Sudbury and when I do go I have a
long “to do” list of things that I can only get done in there. I think twice about
a free run in now and the price of gas hasn’t reached the price that it is expected
to in our future. It seems a lot of people are starting to do the same.

Anyhow this interview did give me a lot to think about and made me wonder what kind
of a world we will be living in five or ten years from now. It remains to be seen
doesn’t it?

Jessica