Reading and Riding: Three cheers for the recession?

Should we raise a cheer?

After all, the recession affects the price of oil. As demand decreases the price drops. ($38US per barrel on Saturday)

The recession affects how we spend money as well. I shared the following earlier:

“The new frugal could help the green movement. Big-car sales are down; industrial emissions will likely drop... the effects of lower consumption could actually achieve more than all of Al Gore’s finger-wagging.” [link to full post]

The recession could also be slowing the approach of peak oil (if it hasn’t already arrived without fanfare), the time when half the world’s supply is gone and that which remains will be scarcer and costlier.


[“Did peak oil sneak up on us?”: photo link]

I read the following recently while riding my exercise bike and preparing for 6 more weeks of hockey wars:

Conventional oil’s peak will begin, Colin Campbell writes, “a period of recurring price surges, recessions, international tensions, and growing conflicts for access to critical oil supplies, as the indigenous energy supply situation in the United States and Europe deteriorates.” Put simply, oil’s peak will have seismic consequences for the entire world. It will shift the ground underneath us. (pg. 100, The Upside of Down)

I’d quietly cheer if the recession delayed the seismic shift until we were well prepared with alternative fuels.

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Has the wolf of peak oil, however, snuck in among the sheep?

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