Oxygen is vital for human existence. It allows the engine of life to function as it courses through out veins and feeds our cells. Our brain, heart and other organs die within minutes of their oxygen supply being interrupted. Oxygen is needed to get work done, whether that work is pumping blood, thinking, moving, digesting food or cleansing the blood. We cannot live without it. The body ceases to function without adequate oxygen.

Similarly, civilization requires its own form of oxygen in order to exist. Without its own form of oxygen work ceases, cities crumble and people live a hand-to-mouth existence. The oxygen of civilization is energy. That energy has come in various forms over the millennia. From oxen and horses used to assist in food production and transportation, to modern equivalents of combines and high-speed aircraft, energy in its various forms has both held societies together and allowed for more complex forms of societies to develop and grow.

In an examination of modern societies in a global context, it becomes apparent that energy stresses are increasing the aggressiveness of countries, trading blocks, rebel groups and private companies. As the quest for additional energy forces these groups into contact and confrontation with one another, the question must be asked:

Why is energy confrontation just happening?

Scarcity of fossil fuel energy resources

Oil is a nonrenewable resource which is used in everything from plastics to transportation. Imagine a world without oil. How would the food get from field to market? You ready to harness the horses to go and get it? Hardly. Cars would stop. Buses would stop. The trucks moving goods across the country from ports to your local grocery store would stop. But this isn't going to happen.

What will happen is exactly what we see today in our news headlines. It will begin with a price hypersensitivity to news which could even slightly disrupt oil supplies (1). Food costs will increase as higher fuel costs are passed along to consumer. Remember, petroleum is used to drive the tractors and combines, move animals to market and transport the food products to your store shelves. Consumers will bear the brunt on these increasing costs as food producer's profit margins shrink under ever-increasing price pressures. There will be talk of individuals and municipalities either being unable to pay for energy or energy shortages will leave some people having to struggle without energy (2). The Edinburgh Evening News recently reported that the UK is headed toward "blackouts, job losses and rocketing fuel bills." (2)

These are the types of indicators which warn of an impending crisis. Even without detailed knowledge of Peak Oil facts and figures, OPEC supplies or the latest consumption reports, the news and price reactions of oil tell the story of scarcity.

If you need any more convincing, reports indicate that the World Economic Forum will spend considerable time discussing the possibility of an energy crisis. Reuters reports that "Concerns that a potential energy crisis could derail global economic growth will dominate [the] annual summit . . ." (3) When the "annual rally of the rich and powerful" as Reuters phrases it, are concerned, the situation should concern us all. The concerns include serious topics such as the "ability to cope with a severe or lasting disruption to supplies . . ." (3) Evidence of this impending crisis were reporting by the International Herald Tribune, which stated that European chemical makers were being hurt by higher oil prices (4). A fund manager quoted in article states unequivocally that "We'll have oil scarcity for the next months and years. There's no spare capacity." (4 - emphasis added)

What can be done.

What can be done is not a question of hopelessness. Notice the conspicuous lack of a question mark. There is no question that action must be taken. Alternatives are being explored now with greater access to capital to fund it. Even the U.S. government is helping with tax credits for making a home more energy efficient.(5)

What is needed more is a change in the outlook of consumers in the way they use energy with a more acute realization of the precarious position we are in. Energy is abundant, but economical energy that can be harnessed for use by industry, government and private citizens is becoming more expensive and harder to find. With the "oxygen" of energy in ever shorter supply, alternatives are the key to prolong and even extend indefinately our modern living standard.

Footnotes:
1. http://news.yahoo.com/i/721;_ylt=AsELPvavhSZ7tz.BUQnfbwFn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA2NWJlcmlsBHNlYwN0bg--

2. http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=72322006

3. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18515154.htm

4. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/17/business/bxeuro.php?rss

5. http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/060119/17687.html?.v=1