Carol McKee, the president of ACHD remembers, ask her about this. We talked about it at length just a few months ago. She fully understands that the paved road is not long for this world.

Basing any future plans on the assumption that we will have smooth roads that will facilitate travel at speeds above 10 miles per hour is pure nonsense at this point.

Connect the dots folks. The world is running out of cheap oil, cheap oil is needed to maintain paved roads, paved roads are needed to ship food 1,500 miles to your local grocery store.

Without food, nobody is going to be thinking about buses, electric cars, iphones, or any other mythical future. When food gets scarce, people tear down and burn cities.

Expensive oil is not a gasoline problem, road maintenance problem, or an economic problem, it is a food problem. When food gets scarce, nothing else matters.

Tonight at 7pm, at the Boise City council chamber, there will be a meeting. It will be about this food problem. If you like food, I would encourage you to go. The wording makes it seem like an ‘enviro’ meeting, but I assure you that the folks behind it would back up every word I’ve said here. The city councils of Spokane, Oakland, Austin, Portland and many other cities across America have created a “Peak Oil Task Force” to deal with this issue. Tonights event is our first step into looking at how to survive a low energy future.

January 15, 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Community Food Forum at the Boise City Hall Council Chambers. “We are pleased to announce that Sustainable Community Connections of Idaho and the City of Boise will be sponsoring a Community Food Forum. What is a sustainable local food system? How do we prioritize what needs to be done? What is a food shed? What is a food inventory? What are you doing and how can you help? Please join us as we answer these questions and engage in conversation on the creation of a sustainable local food system. Local experts will be gathering your feedback to establish priorities and set objectives for 2009. There is no fee to attend the forum. Please RSVP to info@thinkboisefirst.org. Seating is limited.”

If we are going to put our resources into anything, it should be hybrid electric vehicles. It is my opinion this offers the greatest bang for the buck. Not ordinary hybrids as most think of them, but sophisticated hybrids that can double as a power supply for your home. I’ve read of certain people using their hybrids as backup generators for their homes. Think about it. Why would you need a car and a generator when the electrical cable recharging your plug-in hybrid could also work in reverse to power your home? I firmly believe a combination of solar, wind and battery technology and electronics could make a huge amount of suburban homes self-sufficient energy-wise at a reduced environmental impact. And more importantly, reduced dependence on foreign oil. If I had the opportunity to go off the grid I would. Added bonus, maybe eventually we could take down all the ugly-ass power lines.

Odd thing, in the never-ending rancor over pollution, overhead power lines never get mentioned. For one thing, considerable energy is lost transporting electricity long distances. Then there’s the infrastructure cost. Don’t forget, each utility pole is a mini toxic waste dump. And they are just plain ugly and a hazard to aviation. Those poles kill a number of drunk drivers every year too. 🙂

I think that’s oversimplifying the situation. If there were fewer people, there would be fewer people available to extract the resources we need and want. Think of sailing in the open sea. There is always the horizon. No matter how far you sail, the horizon is still there and you cannot see beyond it.

Likewise with resources. One must negate the temporary effects of the business cycle in this thought experiment. Why should a business person, farmer-miner-rancher produce more than what the market can absorb? A pie chart, no matter how divided, is still a perfect circle.

Tom Anderson – No I haven’t read that book. I am currently reading a biography of Andrew Jackson. You are right, we are running out of everything. But, we wouldn’t be running out of everything, and the vast majority of people on earth wouldn’t be living in abject poverty if there were fewer of us chasing the available resources.

The whole idea of any Mass Transit system being implemented in Boise, Idaho is a gigantic waste of money. We are isolated 400 miles away from any other major population center… And our population is still very low and spread over a wide area. Right now there is barely a good argument to have the existing bus system we have now in Boise.

Do people not know that the Federal Government has no power to do this and most other things it does. Oh, the public schools do not teach the Constitution anymore so I guess people don’t know this.