The Oil Age

Renewable Energy Can Run Civilization, Just Not This One ~ Nate Hagans and DJ White

Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash

For 35 years my paycheck came from Bakersfield, it was a pretty sweet gig because I didn’t have to live there. Instead of living in Kern County, I got paid to work at Kern Environmental Education Program and walk the hills, shorelines, dunes, and riparian corridors of coastal San Luis Obispo County with the children from Kern County. I always felt it was kind of a cruel trick to let these inland kids from the Valley spend a week on the beautiful coast of Montana de Oro State Park and then send them back to Bakersfield, but… it was a living.

Not that Kern County is such a horrible place, to be fair the county has its highlights like the Kern River, Southern Sierra, the Mojave Desert, Windwolves preserve, Dwight Yokum, Merle Haggard, museums, and other cultural spots in Bakersfield, and the vast majority of people I have interacted with are wonderful, friendly folk.

But Bakersfield and the Southern San Joaquin Valley are doomed by its topography. Ringed by mountains on three sides the prevailing winds tend to blow air pollution from as far north as the Bay Area down to their neck of the valley where it sits over the old inland lake basin. In addition, the triple-digit summer heat, agricultural dust, and other aspects make it a place I wouldn’t want to live in.

Kern County has a lot of agriculture but what many don’t realize is that it is the 7^th largest oil-producing county in the nation. In 2014 I was lucky to attend a symposium for educators on oil called From Derricks to Desks presented by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and the American Petroleum Institute.

We spent 4 full days learning about oil and gas extraction, we toured the Elk Hills Petroleum Reserve and offshore platforms in the Santa Barbara channel, had guest speakers, and culminated our class with a fine dinner at The Petroleum Club, located on the top floor of the tallest building in Bakersfield. It was informative and eye-opening. Yet, as we sipped our whiskey on rocks while overlooking the city, I mentioned to one of the leaders of the symposium, that the elephant in the room was never addressed. In the whole 4 days, not once was anything mentioned about climate change. He thought for a moment, nodded, and agreed that I had a valid point.

That symposium combined with a lecture on peak oil was a springboard to my fascination with fossil fuels’ and their impact on our culture and environment.

We’ve all heard of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Industrial Age, the Nuclear Age, etc. We are now living in the oil age, I don’t think it’s officially been named that, but it damn well should be.

I’m thankful for fossil fuels. Because of them, our lives are far easier than our ancestors when it comes to health care, transportation, vehicle parts, food production, food distribution and preservation, appliances, lighting, entertainment, camping supplies, recreational equipment, construction materials, industrial machinery, irrigation, furniture, heating, baby products, electronic and tech products, and so many other aspects of our lives.

Our reliance on fossil fuels is inescapable. How do we even begin to wean ourselves from this habit, or do we need to?

If so it will take decades.

Perhaps first we focus on weaning ourselves off burning fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Three-fourths of a barrel of oil is used in transportation, for moving things like cars, planes, trains, boats, trucks, buses, tractors, motorcycles, ships, zeppelins, or whatever. When those fossil fuels are burned they create waste, like soot, hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide that are emitted into the atmosphere. It’s basic physics and people have known this for decades.

If we listen to the scientists whose job is to understand the atmosphere, the majority agree that these waste products are changing our atmosphere and warming our planet. The evidence of our climate changing is there for all to see: reduced arctic sea ice, glaciers melting worldwide, higher sea levels, coastal flooding, record high temperatures on land, and in the sea, coral reef bleaching, larger and more frequent wildfires, stronger hurricanes, acidification of oceans and…

Okay, I’ll stop, I hate doom and gloom.

But, before we move on we all need to be on the same page, The climate IS changing. That is an undeniable FACT. But, whether you believe humans are the cause of it or it’s just a natural cycle makes a big difference. If it’s a natural cycle, then sit back and relax because there is nothing, we can do about it. But, if we are the cause of any of it, then we are also the solution.

We’ve all heard some skeptics say things like we don’t need to stop using oil, “the climate has always changed.” Our response to that comment should be, “Oh really? How do you know?” This usually results in them saying that scientists have shown that it’s changed in the past. Now the contradiction becomes obvious because these are the very same scientists saying that this current warming is uniquely different and quicker than anything we’ve seen in the past, and fossil fuel emissions are playing a big part in the change.

Youth worldwide share a concern about climate change. According to new polling data conducted by Beacon Research, some 40 percent of young (18-34-year-old) U.S. voters across political affiliations say they will only support a candidate who prioritizes climate action. 

A study published in The Lancet in 2021 found that 70 percent of 16- to 25-year-olds in ten countries said they were “extremely worried” or “very worried” about climate change. It’s clear action on climate change is only going to increase, the question is where to focus.

Look, we’re not just going to stop using oil anytime soon, it is way too important in our lives. We will continue to use it for many years for many things. But burning oil to move things or make electricity, is already changing. With each passing year alternative ways of producing electricity are gaining market share over fossil fuels. Battery technology and battery recycling are rapidly advancing, and electric vehicles and hybrids are becoming more common and affordable.

Over half of the greenhouse gases created by humans come from transportation and generating electricity. Maybe that’s the low-hanging fruit we can pick off to help move us to a cleaner future. While doing that, then maybe we can develop a way to deal with all the plastic and other ways we use oil.

That’s what we’ll look at next time.