Ethical Issues Of Peak Oil

Great Essays
Register to read the introduction… 2007, pg. 202). As the world is so reliant on this finite resource it is a crucial problem that needs to be addressed with a sense of urgency. Peak oil will force the change in which society operates and will have a dramatic influence on the economic condition of the world as it has had in previous years. The demand for oil globally is going to be forever increasing unless alternatives are found.

Peak oil is unquestionably linked with the economic state of nations and has great potential to lead to another global recession as it has done in the past. (McPherson, GR. & Weltzin, JF. 2008, pg. 187) Food production, manufacturing, transport and energy supplies will all be heavily affected and will further propel the global economy into a downward spiral. On June 30, 2008 the price of oil globally peaked at $143 a barrel. The economic recessions such as the 1973 and 1979 energy crisis
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Our society needs to take this into consideration and promote ethical responses such as the implementation of an ‘energy descent culture’, the rebuilding of energy production, and local food networks. Countries that dominantly rely on importing oil will be immensely affected sooner and more excessive than countries that export (Foucher, S. 2007). As the price of oil increases it will leave many individuals unable to afford the luxuries that we take for granted today. Numerous amounts of people will be forced to either walk, use bicycles, electric cars or public transport as a means of transportation, as the running costs of a petroleum based car becomes too excessive for the majority. Alternatives for the populace include telecommuting, moving from suburbia to either rural, or high-density regions, where these means of transport are more viable options and can ultimately see suburbia becoming the ‘slums of the future’. (Kunstler, J. …show more content…
Foucher, S. 2007, ‘Net Oil Exports and the "Iron Triangle”’ viewed 12 April 2011,
<http://www.theoildrum.com/tag/export_land_model?page=1>

2. Heinberg, R, 2003, ‘The Party’s over: Oil, war and the fate of Industrial Societies’, Gabriola Island.

3. Hirsch, R. 2005, ‘Peaking of world oil production:Impacts, mitigation & risk management.’ Report to U.S.Department of Energy.

4. Homer-Dixon, T 2006, ‘The upside of down: catastrophe, creativity, and the renewal of civilization’, Knopf, Toronto.

5. Kunstler, J. 2007, ‘James H Kunstler Dissects Suburbia’ viewed 13 April 2011,
<http://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html>

6. McPherson, GR & Weltzin, JF 2008, ‘Implications of peak oil for industrialized societies’, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 187-191.

7. Sharpe, S & Tranter, P 2010, ‘The hope for oil crisis: Children, oil vulnerability and (in)dependent mobility’, Australian Planner, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 284-292.

8. Strahan, P 2007 “Last Oil Shock” London, John Murray,

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