A+Reflection+Panic+Attack+on+a+World+Without+Oil

**A Panic Attack on a World Without Oil**
//writes Ching Fung//

When people say that the world will need alternative energy sources in the future, I thought they were just talking about cars. Or at least, everyone only talks about energy in terms of transportation, oil in terms of transportation, so that we overlook everything else that's important. That's why I freaked out when I saw the list of petroleum products.

Here are just a few things that I would rather __die__ than live without:
Laptops Speakers Earphones iPods Telephones Refrigerators

Here are a few things that I could __probably__ live without:
Clothes Trashbags Dishes

It took a lot longer to come up with the second list. But you see, it goes farther. I would rather die than live without books. They don't include books on the list, but the way books are made nowadays probably require an oil of some sort. Almost everything we depend on today needs oil, needs the earth's natural assets. It freaks me out because if I think about a world without oil, I think about Cro-Magnons. Cave people. There would be absolutely nothing to do, nothing to learn, except perhaps the College of Fine Hunting with Whale Bone. But ah, the whales would have all been dead in the future. What now? All the animals are probably dead. Trees? Hm... chopping down more trees would probably mean death for us. At some point, everything might just grind to a stop, and we'll live primitively like that story about Easter Island.

Here is an advertisement campaign by //Diesel//, the fashion brand, called '//Global Warming Ready//'. It's a little off the mark. You'll see [|why].



Based on a world without oil, I don't think we would look that nice. We'd probably be forced to wear leaves, shave off our heads, go underground like the ant people away from the destructed ozone layer. But that's just me. Critics called this advertising campaign "Blatantly inept and woefully uninformed." Even worse, "Diesel is appealing the worst aspect of human nature -- one of greed and selfishness."

Uh. I blush and say that I can't agree more, and that I'm sorry I'm a horrible Earthizen.