How many times have you heard someone talk about "our addiction to oil"? I'm getting a bit tired of it.
Physiological addiction occurs when you consume a pharmacologically active substance such as opiate narcotics, alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine in sufficient quantities with sufficient regularity that you crave the substance and have withdrawal symptoms if you don't get the compound often enough and in sufficient quantity. Once past the withdrawal phase, your body and brain may not need the substance and may function better. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC in marijuana) referenced in the famous poster from the pot exploitation film Reefer Madness may actually be less dangerous and more beneficial than some of the other addictive substances. I leave that to the reader to decide...
None of this is true of oil. Oil is like air--we need it to function and there's no good alternative. The United States consumes more than any other nation. We could probably consume less and still maintain the world's highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and our economic and military dominance. But not a lot less without big changes. Morgan Downey has a great interactive graph on his blog, scarcewhales which he hasn't posted to in a while, unfortunately. He's busy on other projects. What you'll see on that graph is pretty strong evidence that America's oil consumption per person has overall risen much less than many other nations in the world. We've also maintained our position as the nation with the highest per capita GDP.
I would suggest that we are the world's dominant power precisely because we consume and process more energy from oil and other sources than any other nation. We convert that energy into a fabulous array of goods and services, incredible air and land transportation systems, and a military machine that can project all over the globe at a moment's notice.
If that's an addiction, it's tough to overcome. Since we don't have much choice as oil supply tightens, I'd very much like to see us using the power and wealth we now possess to leverage new energy sources, transmission systems, and transportation infrastructures so that we can maintain as much as possible. I'd also like to see as many as you as possible out of your cars and planes so that we can save as much oil as possible for the tractors, mining trucks, trains, and jets that support all the things we need and use. We should our feet, bodies, and brains more. The real addiction is to inactivity. A fit population would feel better, work harder and smarter, and produce more value.
Any chance I'll see a few more folks on my bike rides to work soon???
