Blog Week 6

On Monday Feburary 20, 2007 I attended a lecture given by the keynote speaker, James Kuntsler. James Kuntsler spoke about problems in our economy which included the trouble that we have with oil. He spoke about our society and its plans for the future concerning oil. He discussed that we do have problems and they are not going to be solved anytime soon.
He started out giving us the facts about oil production. He stated that we do have a climate problem and this is affected by oil. The world is starting to decrease its oil production. We use about 7 billion barrels of oil a year and 70-80% of the oil we started out with we no longer have. The oil that is left is heavy and crude and this type of oil gives less gasoline. Oil is not only used for cars, it affects many different aspects of our life and living without it would be devastating to our everyday life.
Our society relies on everyone else to do the thinking and that eventually a solution will be found. People think as long as we have technology we will have energy. This is not true technology doesn’t equal energy, just because we have technology doesn’t mean that there is a solution to the problem. He predicted that our entire way of living is going to change once oil runs out. He said that we are going to have to downscale everything we do and live a more local lifestyle. He predicted that we would digress in the way we live. We would make food closer to home and agriculture would need more human labor. For example cheese would be made in the same place as the cow which is much different from production today.
He made the lecture entertaining but making jokes about our society. He said that when people wish upon a star they think dreams come true. Even though he made it seem like a joke this is a very true statement. This relates back to Jesuit education and how it teaches its student to be in control of their dreams and not to let others control them. In our society most people are followers waiting for someone to lead them. This is shown in the oil crisis; everyone is waiting for someone else to come up with the solution. This is an example of how Jesuit education would help, because it is teaching everyone to become a leader and to find the solution and not become apart of the problem.
In the Whale Rider, by Witi Ihimaera there is a theme of leadership. The tribe’s main figure is a whale. If the whales die then their society will die with the whales. In a way this can be related back to our society. If the oil dies then our society will die. Obviously our society would not actually die without oil but it would be changed a great deal. In the novel Kahu the granddaughter took control of the situation and saved the whales. She led the tribe and saved them from what would come if the whales no longer existed. We are waiting for our Kahu. We are waiting for someone to take control and end this crisis, to find a solution. If everyone was trying to find a solution and working together it would be found much quicker. The author of the Whale Rider might be trying to tell us that one leader is not always right. There may have to be many people needed to help change a situation for the better.
James Kuntsler made the point that it is already too late to help the oil crisis. I disagree with this statement. I know I haven’t done as much research as him and don’t know as much about the economy and oil, but I do know that when people come together incredible outcomes have been achieved. The more that we learn that there is a leader in each and every one of us, the stronger we will become as person and a society. Jesuit education is helping me understand this and helping me understand more about myself and how I have the ability to make a difference in anything I put my mind to.