Here it is friends – the last installment of my book review of “$20 Per Gallon” by Christopher Steiner. If you missed the other entries, you’ll have to look in the blog archives.
$16 Per Gallon: Steiner titles this chapter “The Food Web Deconstructed” so the entire focus is on our food chain. Here’s what he predicts:
- Food will become more local. Thanks to rising gas prices, Norwegian cod will no longer be caught in Norway, frozen, sent to China to be gutted, filleted and packaged and then sent ’round the world.
- Forget about cheap sushi in Springfield – unless someone finds a way to make it from bass or crappie! The cost of getting bluefin tuna to this locale will be prohibitive.
- But – the world’s supply of fish will get an opportunity to heal, repair and renew.
- American farms will go local – think 600 acres owned by a family instead of 60,000 acres run by a corporation.
- Our produce will be healthier – after all, it will be locally grown and we’ll have access to it within days of being picked.
- We’ll have to find other fertilizers than those made with fossil fuels. Scientists are working on solutions now.
$18 Per Gallon: Remember the subway systems at $12 per gallon? Now that we’re up to $18 per gallon, the railroads are going to come to the forefront again.
- Federal funds (if there are any available at that time) will need to shift from building roads to building train networks.
- American trains will mimic those in Europe and Asia – sleeker, faster, designed for easy travel.
- We will WANT to use train travel – unless we have electric cars.
- The U.S. military will be forced to spend more on fuel and less on new planes, boats and missiles.
- High gas prices may pose a threat to national security.
$20 Per Gallon: Now we’re at that magical figure – on that’s hard to imagine today when I can drive to Sam’s and fill up my little Honda at $2.48 a gallon with a total bill of about $35 if I’m really on empty. In this chapter, Steiner didn’t look as much at lifestyle changes – he focused on the future of energy.
- Factories will generate alternative energy from their manufacturing processes.
- Recycled energy development (RED) will be prolific – a silicon factory in West Virginia is already experimenting with a proto-type that will hopefully become industry standard across our country long before gas prices reach this level.
- While scientists look for new sources of energy they will also look for what they call the low-hanging megawatts that are wasted daily.
- Human waste will become an energy supply – renamed “anaerobic digestion” to include human and organic waste products.
- The future of energy lies in hydro-electic, wind generation and nuclear power with some coal, solar power and geothermal energy thrown in for good measure.
Steiner concludes his book with a look at “sometime in the 21st century” – a mythical representation of a young adult living in New York in a world that incorporates all his predictions.
How accurate is his crystal ball? If you live long enough, you may know.
