This era in history may be remembered as the "Peak Age", a brief time when nearly all materials used to power and create our society reach the maximum extraction and production potential. Past this point, all of these resources become increasingly difficult to extract until they are no longer economically viable resources to be using. There are hundreds of examples of resources, currently embedded in our industrial society, which have reached their peak in the 50 years surrounding 2010, but the one which will most impact our society is petroleum.

The goal of living for 100 days without oil is to understand the extent of our dependance on oil in American society today. Specifically, how it will affect my life, as a 25 year-oil living in Minneapolis, MN. By using myself as a metric I can take a close and conscious look at where oil dependance occurs in all aspects of our daily lives : How we transport ourselves from one place to another, what we eat, how much waste we create, how water is cleaned and transported, where oil is used as; an energy resource, in conventional medicine and for hygiene and how oil affects how we entertain ourselves and communicate with others. By demonstrating how someone would be forced to live without using any oil resources, outlining both what the sacrifices will be as well as the benefits, we can can identify the many systems which will have to be re-designed in a world without cheap oil, and explore a new way of living in which we live in an energy balance.

(At the bottom of this page is a link to my version of a flow diagram of 'Where Petroleum Exists in Our Daily Lives' (using information from the Energy Information Administration-Annual Energy Review 2008 fig 5.0 Petroleum flow) click and zoom to enlarge)


Monday, November 15, 2010

DAY 86_WHO NEEDS A TRUCK?

8 November 2010

I biked 10 miles to get more potting soil the other day (local potting soil mixes sold at Interior Gardens in NE), and it got me thinking about running errands by bicycle (and how strange it was to bike 10 miles to get dirt).

There are a lot of ways to carry stuff on a bike. I see many people using burley trailers (with or without children inside), but without forking out the couple hundred bucks for one of those here is a great list of DIY bike trailers from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~armb/cycling/trailer.html)

Some load carrying alternatives to trailers:

Here are some examples of people carrying ridiculous amounts of stuff on bicycles:

plumber with an xtracycle http://www.xtracycle.com/

people moving using bikes http://tricolour.net/photos/2003/05/10/hpv.html
And finally, lets not forget that bicycles and walking are major forms of transportation all around the world.  Next time you think you need to drive your car to run those errands, consider this, (from http://www.aliraqi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=147793536):


this guy is carrying a washing machine



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1 comments:

  1. Very cool Mol. What about vertical transportation? I am amazed when young, able bodied people all over campus hop on the elevator for a two story ride. Or everyone hops on the escalator at the airport after an eight hour flight.

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