Extraction oil rig
Credit: zhengzaishuru / Getty
Texas just did something that only recently might have been unthinkable. The state whose name is synonymous with American oil took the unusual step of formally considering statewide cuts in oil production — a step that hasn’t been taken since the 1970s.
At an online public hearing the state hosted on Tuesday, oil and gas company representatives painted a picture of devastation — bankrupt companies and tens of thousands of jobs lost — if Texas and other states and countries didn’t deliberately scale back production to counteract a free fall in oil prices.
“If the Texas Railroad Commission does not regulate long term, we will disappear as an industry, like the coal industry,” said Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, referring to the state agency that oversees oil and gas production. “The Commission really does not have any wiggle room to do nothing in the unprecedented, disastrous circumstances of today.”
More than 20,000 interested viewers from across the world tuned in to the hearing, which had not even cycled through […]
I must say that we still need gasoline for us old timers who cannot afford a new electric car and besides that, we do not drive much. My wife and I only use our car to go to the grocery store and the pharmacy and to doctors appointments. Therefor we only use a very little gasoline and do not create much danger to the atmosphere. Our old Toyota only has 120,000 miles on it and that is our most used car besides our van which I use as a truck to get large things I need mostly for our garden so we use even less gas in it. Our Social Security is our only income so we plan to keep our gas powered cars until we die. By the way, I do all of my own repairs which are rarely needed, anyway.
P.S.: We do like the idea to use electric cars to stop pollution even though we will never be able to afford to buy one.
There are still many who’ve not yet switched their cars, as Rev Dean commented earlier. More importantly, we need more people riding together, either in corporate-sponsored vans or buses, trains, subways.
If we go on as before there will be more roads, more destruction of the environment. It’s a very very complex challenge. Perhaps, there will be more community options, where small buses pick up and return citizens to their neighborhoods. The financing of that will depend on where one is, etc.
Many have shifted to working online, which is going to continue to grow. It’s challenging to envision what the future will look like. This energetically and physically disruptive period is pushing forward ideas and connections that weren’t active before. As Dickens wrote in one of the best ever openings to his novel A Tale of Two Cities – ‘It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…
Those words resonate!
#bifurcation
From James O’Dea, former head of Amnesty International and ex President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. (IONS):
An evolutionary bifurcation is an irreversible change of direction that evolution takes; evolution leaps to a new higher synthesis and jettisons the old: the dinosaurs are never coming back. We have systemic and cultural dinosaurs of greed and over-consumption and they lead to extinction. Evolution invites applications for those ready to take the leap to a new human culture of peace and responsibility ..and a time when if we do our homework when we can come out to play again.
The time of the dying of the beast is challenging, but it IS dying!!
Thank you Stephan..
And dying we all will some day by virus or other. These transformative times worldwide with no regard for national or cultural or religious origins, imagine the possibilities. Thank you for sharing Sam.