Blog 6: James Kuntsler Lecture

On February 20, 2007 I attended a lecture by James Kuntsler in McManus Theater. Kuntsler was here as the Humanities Symposium keynote speaker and the majority of his lecture was about our nation’s plan for energy sources in the future. He also spent time discussing his latest book “The Long Emergency” which is primarily about the global oil problem. Going along with this year’s theme of urban spaces, urban voices and the year of the city, Kuntsler also discussed the situation that is present in today’s oil economy.

James Kuntsler began his lecture by discussing his book “The Long Emergency.” The primary points in the book were about the global oil problem that the entire planet is up against and the consequences that it may lead to. From there he branched off and started discussing why it is becoming such an important issue in today’s world. Kuntsler talked about how every year we are consistently using more and more oil. He said that Mexico, which is our number two supplier of oil, has now been completely absorbed of oil and that the majority of oil left is crude oil. Since crude oil contains a significantly lower amount of gasoline, the situation is only getting worse.

At this point of the lecture I began thinking about David Simon’s lecture that took place a little more than two weeks ago. Throughout his entire lecture it seemed as though he had a very negative view on the future of our economy. Similarly, Kuntsler maintained a very pessimistic outlook, only this time with regard to our over consumption of oil. Kuntsler went on to talk about the possible outcomes of complete depletion of oil. He said that the institutions that surround our daily lives will reach a very unstable point. Without incoming oil, gasoline will be gone. Thinking about what will happen if the world ran out of gasoline is almost scary. In the United States, if you do not live in the city and you do not have a car, it is almost not possible to lead a normal life.

This was where Kuntsler went next with his lecture. He began discussing how it was important for those in the United States to start considering using trains more frequently. If more people began using public transportation, oil, gasoline, and in the end, energy will be saved. While this is a good point and it would definitely help the situation, I do not agree. The amount of oil that would be saved would not be able to help the country in the extreme long run. Also, I feel as though there is enough technology in today’s world for this crisis to be solved. Electric and solar powered cars are already available. These would require absolutely not gasoline at all. Even the use of hybrid cars across the country would substantially lower our countries painfully high intake of gasoline.

In the end I felt as though Kuntsler’s argument was obviously extremely valid. The threat of the income of oil coming to an end is an extremely important issue and one that should in no way be overlooked. On the other hand, I feel that he has way to much of a pessimistic view on the entire situation. It seems almost as though he is putting no faith in the scientists and others who are working just as hard as he is at their job in order to put an end to this crisis which has suddenly spiraled completely out of control.