Oil? What's that?

Oil? What’s that?

To The Generations I’ve Helped Ruin:

The name is Shane McCartney. The year is 2008. I’m 19, and I go to Westfield State College in Westfield, Massachusetts. Just curious, but what’s it like? The future that is; are there flying cars? Are there robots running around? Do people teleport for means of transportation? If not, I’m not surprised. That’s what the people of the 1960’s dreamed of happening by the time the 2000’s showed up. None of it has happened; and I really don’t see it happening any time soon. Even though technology is getting better and better everyday, there’s no way all of it can happen. One main reason why I don’t see these happening is the fact that even as I write this, there is less and less oil available to supply to the world.
Oh, don’t worry, oil won’t just “run out”, that’s because “all oil production follows a bell curve. Oil is increasing plentiful on the up slope of the curve, and increasingly scarce and expensive on the down slope. The peak of the curve coincides with the point at which the endowment of oil has been 50% depleted. Once the peak is passed, oil production begins to go down while cost begins to go up.” (LATOC) The “peak” that was mentioned, scientists believe, very possibly occurred in the year 2005. So this means “the worldwide oil production in the year 2030 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2030 will be both much larger and much more oil dependent than it was in 1980.” (LATCO) So basically, the worldwide demand for oil will outpace the worldwide production of oil by a significant margin. And as a result, the price of oil will skyrocket, oil dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.
So, is there even any oil left for you and your generation? If there is, I wonder how much is left. If not, I for one am terribly sorry that my generation, the generations before me, and the generations following after mine have used all of it all up on you, and basically sending you into an “economic stone age”. The thing is that we, as a population just don’t care. We only think about ourselves, and how we are to live our own lives. Another thins was that we really didn’t realize how much oil was being used up each and everyday. Oil is the basic building block to civilization. Yes, it is mainly used as a source of heating homes, and used for transportation, but what most people don’t realize, is that oil is also in so many of everyday objects; for example, toothpaste.
Again, I truly am sorry that I helped ruin your lives, but at the same time, I’m also guilty of just not caring. You see, even though I know that oil will become scare, there’s nothing that I can do about, so I am just going to go with the flow, and live my life.

Yours Truly,

Shane McCartney