After downloading my "Push-On", from "Bicycle NSW", newsletter today I visited the primary site and found an article about Peak Oil and the impending doom - Peak Oil Write Up. Although it was informative it did neglect to state anything concerning the Negative effect of Peak Oil on the bicycle itself! As thee was no-where to comment on the site I will write a tiny comment here.
The bicycle needs the tools and materials that Oil provide. Maybe Hydro, Wind or Solar can replace any Fuels required in welding... but the ludrication and so-named rubber tyres and tubes will need some form of substitution as will ALL the petro-chemical based plastic components (even the loverly lycra).
If Peak Oil == Expensive then the cheap form of transport is still going to increase in relative terms anyway.
I ride a fairly cheap(sic) treadly and so far it is still costing me around $1.50 a day.
ie the bike $400,
some specific clothing $100 (some shorts less than annual, but what are they made of?),
helmet $60(maybe considered a 1 off but what is it made of?)
tools and cleaners etc $50,
service: 5000kms service replace chain and cluster
tyres 4-7000kms $35 each (made from??)
tubes time depends upon luck (made from??)
service: 10000kms (maybe not in one year but very possible!)
lubricants: might be able to use the sheep for this replacement
What else bid i miss? Well you could add clips/shoes, bags, puncture repair kits, lighting, batteries, cable sheath, wiring, brake pads, etc, the list goes on and on... so many things in our daily lives depend on OIL not just transport I think transppport is such a side issue.... why do you need transport if there is no reason to go to the non-existent workplace or shop for those non-existent goods?
Yes many subsitutes can be created or re-implimented but they are not on the future list of whaat we will be doing.
The future list of things to do only includes the one idea! That is to look for a way to keep things the same as much as possible. That is not going to happen if "Peak Oil is the reality".
Some people go all futuristic and begin discussions of biofuels/natural gas/solar/hydrogen/and god forbid nuclear cars as a replacement for Crude OIL. All possibilities but with great cost -- creation of the fuel, emissions, economy and even transporting it!
The humble bicycle is not immune to the effects of "Peak Oil" nor the strangly named "Climate Change" group of effects (global warming, distruction of Ozone layer, distruction of habitats, extinction of species) and those that should be included global village disease (avian flu) and geneticallty modified monotype cropping (anyone remember the movie Soylent Green ?)
Ok this is enough ranting for today......
Friday, 15 February 2008
Peak Oil Rant
Posted by TweedCoastTreadly at Friday, February 15, 2008
Labels: General Moans, Non-Pedaling News, Weather, what if?
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1 comments:
One of the reasons I got out of cycling advocacy was the fixation that many of the people involved had with trying to push their own political agendas that are only tangentially related to cycling at best. The whole Peak Oil thing is just another example of this.
Fact is, there will never be enough cyclists in the world riding enough kilometres to make any significant difference to the rate at which the world's existing oil supplies are being used up. For most people, it's too much effort, too "geeky" or "uncool", and the old "too dangerous". Even most of the people who wrote that article probably drove to work that day (even if they did feel guilty about it and blamed "the government").
I think the cause of cycling would be far better served if groups like this stuck to the issues that directly impact on real-world cyclists today such as road safety and traffic law enforcement, and left the politics to the relevant lobby groups.
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