Learning to ride, falling down, getting back on
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“No more sheiks in this desert, man.” The dark-skinned, bearded one laughed half-heartedly through a mouthful of smiling teeth. “Not one of them bastards left now. Toke?”
Big cities may shrink to more manageable proportions because of the fuel pinch, some regional planners believe.
Sweat suits instead of flannel pajamas, river canoe trips instead of a vacation in Disneyland — these are some of the changes in lifestyle “every thinking person” should make, according to Shirley Marshall, chairman of Chapel Hill’s new energy conservation task force.
Solar energy, many scientists believe, is adequate for all the conceivable energy needs of the world. It is safe and clean, but expensive. The main technical obstacle is bringing down the cost of the solar cells, which convert light from the sun directly into electric current.
The best alternative energy sources, according to Watson Morris of ECOS, are “doing away with present wasteful practices.”
Lewis, who lived through gas rationing in World War II, observes that “this country runs on gas and oil” and “the man with the money gets what he wants.”
We will strip off the earth’s skin for oil. We will destroy the beauty of our shores. We will pollute the air for it. And we will kill for it. If we cannot buy it for what we consider a fair price we will take it by force, our need is so great.
In a recent interview, Ram Dass, who moves and speaks with an economy of energy suited to the times, suggests that the energy crisis is, “like all trauma, an exquisitely designed opportunity to reawaken man.”