The Matrix, Suburban Style! Part 1

Part 1

Consider. In a bedroom community not far from here, a man named Jim Anderson is waking up from his six hours of sleep. He has a long commute ahead of him and he has to get up early to face rush-hour traffic. Watch as he gets ready, leaves his kids in the hands of his wife, and hops in his SUV. He has to fill up on gas before he can hit the highway. The price of gas makes Jim an unhappy man.

Jim hits the highway slowly, not reaching the speed limit for some time. Then, once he's merged with the vast morass of other vehicles, he accelerates to a rediculous speed and is immediately stopped short by the volume of vehicles on the road. Traffic makes Jim an unhappy man.

Jim sits at his desk, staring vapidly into his monitor, shrouded by his cublicle walls. Jim is mentally drained from even his half-assed attempt to focus on the road. In eight hours Jim has to repeat his commute. He will have to repeat it ad nauseum because he wanted a big house in the suburbs. Commuting makes Jim an unhappy man.

Jim dreaded his evening commute. But on this very day, Jim got a particularly strange message on his computer. It read 'follow the white rabbit'. "What the hell?" Jim says to himself.

Work ends for Jim and he climbs his mountain of an SUV and starts the engine. 1/2 of a fuel tank left. He exits the parking lot, and behold, ahead of him is a white Volkswagen Rabbit. Jim decides to follow the white rabbit. It leads him into an abandonded part of the city and parks. A black man in a black leather trenchcoat gets out and motions for Jim to come forth. Jim, having been bombarded with prejudiced media, assumes it's a trick and that he'll get robbed. Jim drives away and goes home.

The white rabbit message and car appears every day of the week, and on Friday Jim decides to satisfy his curiosity. He follows the white rabbit to the same part of town, and the same man gets out and motions to him. Jim gets out cautiously and appoaches. In a deep slow voice suspiciously like that of Lawrence Fishbourne, the stranger spoke.

"Jim. Do not be afraid. I am Urbanis." The man paused. "Do you want to know the truth?"

"About what?" asked Jim.

"About the world around you; about your commutes, your traffic, and your high gas prices."

"Ummm, yes."

"Good. Come with me."

"I can't. If I go any more than ten metres from an internal combustion engine, I might die."

"Open your mind, Jim."

"I can't!" whined Jim.

"Open your mind. You can do it."

Jim summoned all his courage, and stepped forth, to a distance of fifteen metres from his SUV.
"Whoa," he exclaimed.

"Come with me Jim, and I will show you the answers to all the questions you have been looking for."

Urbanis led him up to an old hotel room and sat him down in a large old burgundy chair.

"Let me explain something to you. You and everyone you know exists in a simulated world known as the Suburban Matrix. Your world isn't real."

"Like, physically not real?"

"No, it isn't a real community. It's fake."

"Whoa!"

"Before I tell you more, I have to ask you something. Are you willing to open your mind, give up everything you have ever known, and see the world in a way you have never seen it before? If you are ready, take the blue pill in my right hand. If not, take the red pill in my left hand. If you take the red pill, you'll wake up in your SUV and remember nothing. If you take the blue pill, your life will be forever altered."

Jim considered for a moment, particularly on the point of taking drugs from strangers. He really was not looking forward to a Friday commute, so he took the blue pill and swallowed.

"Lever! Load the Introduction Program," Urbanis said to a man quietly sitting at a computer, before now unseen.

"Here you go!" said Lever as he handed Urbanis a pamphlet.

"Good. Now relax. This may feel a little... weird."

Urbanis smaked Jim with the pamphlet, and proceeded to explain what the Suburban Matrix is.

"After the war, Humanity celebrated in it's most foolish achievement: the birth of mass suburbanization. Everyone fled the world's urban centres to escape noise, pollution, and other people. They created artifical communities where people lived, and well, couldn't do anything else. Governments supported the program. We don't know who wanted the freeways more, the people or them, but what matters is that this is what the world has been reduced to."

Urbanis opened a large road map criss-crossed by freeways and highways with very little space for anything else. The map was nearly black from all the road markers.

"Suburbia is a system of control which maintains and enforces complacence so that people live out their lives without questioning the world around them. This complacence was and is harvested by certain agents. People's minds are kept in slavery, all so that they can become THIS."

"No. It isn't true. I don't believe it!" Jim exclaimed as he wretched from the thought and the bile built up in his throat.

"He's gonna pop!" said Lever.

Jim vomited all over the floor, and passed out.

Jim awoke in a strange place. He stood up and scratched his neck. He reached into his pocked searching for his cell phone to call for help, but it was nowhere to be found. Urbanis walked in just then.

"Where's my phone?"

"It's gone. You've been unplugged. Come. Walk with me," said Urbanis.

Jim groaned and stood up, following Urbanis. After leaving the building and walking a few blocks with Urbanis and Lever, Jim whined "why do my legs hurt so much?"

Urbanis looked at him with pity. "You've never used them before."

"Whoa."

"This entire world is the real world. This city is alive and real. If you get out and walk around, you'll see a great many things. People, shopping, colour, architecture, harmony. Stop."

Urbanis extended his arm, stopping Jim from walking onto a street and saving him from certain death as an SUV rounded the corner sharply.

"Lever, load the Bike Program."

"Here you go." Lever handed Urbanis another pamphlet. Smack.

"Owww. Why do you keep doing that?"

"Behold." Urbanis motioned to a bicycle leaning against a shop.

"Do you think he'll make it? No one makes it on their first try. Everyone falls," said Lever.

"Get on it, push forward, and peddle," said Urbanis.

Jim hesitantly approached the thing, mounted it, and began waddling through an alley as he attempted to peddle. He was doing well, but nonetheless fell off it. Urbanis and Lever looked disappointed. "Keep trying," said Urbanis.

Jim kept at it for several hours, and after many scrapes and bruises he finally was able to ride the vehicle with stability.

"I know how to ride a bike," Jim said slowly.

"Show me!" said Urbanis, who then mounted a bike himself.

The two raced around the alleyways with Lever watching excitedly.

"Come on! You're faster than this," said Urbanis.

Jim stopped and said "I know what you're trying to do."

They raced again, and Jim performed rather well.

Right then, Lever called out to Urbanis. "I've got sentinels closing in!"

"Sentinels?" said Jim, puzzled.

"The automated enforcers of the Suburban Matrix. They have no personalities. They're all the same."

Two black SUVs skidded into the alleys. Lever hopped on a bike and the three sped away, the SUVs in hot pursuit. One of them bumped into Jim's bike and he rolled over the hood. The sentinels quickly stopped and seized Jim, throwing him in the back. Urbanis and Lever got away, however.

Jim found himself at a chair in a white room with only a desk and another chair, occupied by a man in a black suit.

"Well, Mr. Anderson. It seems you have discovered our little secret," said the suited man.

"Who are you?" asked Jim.

"Harper. Agent Harper."

"Why am I here."

"It seems you have been living a double life today. Let me assure you that one of these lives does not have a future. How about we make you a deal?"

"How about I give you the finger, and you give me my phone call."

"I think you will find it difficult to make a phone call if you cannot speak...."

At that point Agent Harper began stuffing Jim's mouth with subdivision developer's brochures and automobile lease contracts.

"Mmmmhhhmmmlllll!"

"That's right. You're afraid of gun crime, urban youth, immigrants, and cultural liberty. You want to stay in your fortress and keep the real world out. You want to breed more children to create an army of little tiny homeowners."

"Mmmmhhhmmmlllll!"

Agent Harper punched Jim, and he awoke in a new, bigger SUV full of gas in his work's parking garage. Jim drove home, distraught. He immediately went to bed, as it was late.

The weekend passed and Jim reflected on everything he had seen on Friday. He was driving his kids to one of their many practices when he saw a billboard with a picture of Agent Harper smiling, holding a bowl of cereal. In the caption read "an SUV in every driveway and a child in every womb."

Jim was returning from dropping off his son, alone, when the white rabbit swerved in front of him. He thrust his entire leg into the brake pedal and came to a stop. He tumbled out of his monstrosity and onto the pavement. Lever and Urbanis stepped out of their vehicle and seized Jim.

"Come along, Jim. We need you," proclaimed Urbanis as they dragged him to the rabbit.

"What the hell is going on here?" cried Jim.

"Jim, I wasn't sure until yesterday, but I am now. You are the chosen one."

"What?"

"Just come with us. Remember, there was no turning back from the blue pill."

Jim submitted and the three drove in silence until they arrived at the local Sprawlmart.

"We're taking you to see the Oracle," said Lever excitedly.

"The what?" said Jim, confused.

"The Oracle. She is both old and wise. She will tell you exactly what you need to hear."

"Look, Friday was fun, but I don't want to get caught up in some cult."

"Listen, Jim. This is important. This will change everything."

"Huh, why not. You guys are already messed up."

"Let me ask you something. Do you think that is air you are breathing?"

Jim paused for a moment, then said "Yes, silly."

"Nope. It's a vile mix of oxygen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, amongst other pollutants. All from vehicles like your not-so-little SUV."

"Whoa."

"Now come with us."

With that Urbanis led Jim into the Sprawlmart, through the back, and to a stairwell. He motioned for Jim to ascend.

"Ooooow. Stair climbing wasn't part of the deal," whined Jim.

Jim stomped up the stairs to a door. He opened it and there was a living room with a few other children in it.

"Ah, you must be Jim. Urbanis told me all about you. Have a seat, here with the other potentials. I'll be with you in a moment," said a large black woman.

Jim looked to one of the kids, who was playing with a toy bus.

"What do you have there, son?"

"It's the bus that goes from Whitby to Ajax. Look, it's loading passengers." The child handed him the toy. "You try it."

Jim looked at the bus blankly. The child stared at him.

"Do not try to drive the bus. Only try to realize the truth."

"What?"

"There is no bus from Whitby to Ajax."

"Whoa."

"The Oracle will see you now," said an oriental man at the door.

Jim stepped forth into a kitchen where the Oracle stood holding a pan of good old-fashioned cookies.

"Would you like a cookie, Jim?" she asked.

"Ok." Jim took a cookie and bit into it. It was quite good.

"I have some advice for you Jim. Listen carefully. If you live an hour away from work, IT WILL TAKE YOU AN HOUR TO GET THERE. If you drive a large vehicle, IT WILL CONSUME MORE GAS. If you all keep using so much oil, YOU WILL RUN OUT. As oil runs out, ITS PRICE WILL RISE. But if everyone lives an hour away from work and they all need oil, THEY WILL ELECT MANIACS WHO PROMISE TO LET THEM KEEP THEIR SPRAWLED OUT HOUSES. It is just that simple."

"Whoa."

"Oil is subject to supply and demand. It is also a finite resource. If demand continuously increases, and supply continuously decreases, this limited resource will inevitably run out. Don't you see, Jim? The suburban way of life will soon come to an end. People won't be able to drive for an hour to and from work. The cost of running vehicles will only increase. It's not coming down. When commuting becomes economically impractical, suburbia will become a ghetto."

"How come no one else realizes this?" asked Jim.

"The Matrix keeps people in a state of blind ignorance. The agents, enforcers of vapidity, have been able to keep this knowledge from the people. One day they will wake up from all this, and wonder where all the oil went and why they can't breathe the air around them. They will disparage and seek a scapegoat, but it is not their right to place blame."

"But what can I do? I'm just one man."

"You will know when the time comes. Now off with you. You don't want to keep Urbanis waiting. Off you go!"

Jim staggered out of the kitchen and into the hall, confused. Urbanis was waiting there for him.

"What you have heard was for you and you alone. Now come. We have something to attend to," said Urbanis. The two stepped out of the building and back into the rabbit.

"Where are we going?" asked Jim.

"We have a plan, but we need your help."

"What about my kids?"

"They are the Matrix's kids now."

"Noooooooo!" Jim wailed as the rabbit sped onto the freeway towards the city.

As they made their way along the expressway, Jim watched out the window thinking of his children, coopted into the suburban matrix with little hope of breaking free. It was, afterall, everything they had known. They had grown up expecting things to always be this way. Then he understood completely Urbanis' last statement. He looked up, and saw a sprawl-mart beside the highway.

"Deja-vu," he said.

"What?" asked Lever.

"Deja-vu. I just saw that sprawl-mart. I swear."

"Hurry up, Lever," said Urbanis. "A deja-vu is a glitch in the Matrix just after they change something. Now that town's commercial centre will look the same as every other one in the country. The Matrix strives for consistancy and monotony in its architecture and places of business. We'll be safe once we get into the city."

"Where are we going?" asked Jim.

"We're going to see the Architect....."

Newsflash! Jesus Was Car-Free!

Jesus Was Car-Free

Peter Willikin, Jerusalem
Incorporated Press
April 5, 2005

Yesterday the Society of Christian Archaeologists made a most astounding discovery. It turns out that back during the Roman occupation of Palestine, there were no cars, trucks, vans, or SUVs, and Jesus was not himself a driver of automobiles.

“That’s right,” said Jim Hamilton, director of the archaeological dig that made the discovery. “Jesus didn’t need a car to get around. He used a low-emissions camel.”

When asked what traffic was like in the time of Jesus, Hamilton replied that “well it seems that the only roads were narrow strips between buildings, or almost non-existent as they winded through the deserts. We deduced that a traffic jam at the time involved but two camels.”

If it really is ‘God’s green Earth,’ then surely we have betrayed His vision by paving over forests and replacing fields with parking garages. On the subject of parking, there were no fees for parking a camel in ancient Jerusalem, the archaeologists were shocked to learn.

“Jesus didn’t commute to work every day. He lived very close, and likely walked. On occasions where he needed to travel a bit farther, he had the camel option.”

So if Jesus got around without an SUV, surely we can do it too, right?

“Not so easy,” replied Hamiton. “We still haven’t figured out where to pump the gas into the camel.”

...................................................................................................................................................................

Ok I wrote this, but it's real funny isn't it? How can Christians live in suburbia driving their polluting vehicles to work, entertainment, and yes, even church?

Two birds with one stone! Oh yeah!

Urban Messiah

Hello from the City!

Doom and gloom, and nothing nice to say about the suburbs and thier oil-dependant 'culture'. Today I give you the antithesis, the nemesis of sprawl. I believe that one day I will be the progenitor of this antithesis. I promote a renewed interest in the urban centre, in living in closer proximity to our fellows. Allow me to spawn an image for you. Close your eyes, and imagine the future, 2025......

You wake up in the morning to the soft buzzing of your alarm. It's 8:00 am. Your flat is calm and quiet. You get out of your bed and open the curtains to look out your large window. 4 floors down, you see people already out on the street enjoying the morning with coffee and breakfast on the patio of a nice cafe. The street, or rather promenade, is made of a nice granite-coloured cobble work. There are no vehicles, and the promenade is penetrated by many tall leafy trees. You shower, then eat some breakfast. You don't have to drive the kids to school, since it's only a block away. You leave your building at 8:45 and head for work.

Down the elevator and into the quiet lobby, out the door and across the promenade to the subway station. Subways and trains are the only means of transportaion these days, since the oil ran out ten years ago. You admire the way your life has simplified, quieted down, and gotten that much more enjoyable since then. Anything you want is no more than a 20 minute walk or a subway away. All the roads have been cobbled over, and the number of parks has increased in the past 10 years, replacing parking lots. You pass one of these parks on your way to the subway station. This one has a large bronze monument, an oil drum chained to an emaciated man. You enjoy the ironies of the past, and truly appreciate life now. The air is cleaner, the sun is brighter, and there are no steel monstrosities waiting to run you over at the next turn. You descend into the bright, colourfully painted station and board a north-bound subway. It's free, its uncrowded, and there are plenty of places to sit, even in the morning rush hour.

The man beside you, middle aged and in a suit, is reading a newspaper. The headline reads "Liberal Sponsorship Scandal Finally Concluded". He strikes up a conversation with you. He says "They've been working on this one since '04. It's such a shame that it took so long to clear up." You reply "Yes, it's just too bad that the malefactors who instigated the scandal are all deceased." You continue the discussion, and by the end of your short 5 minute commute you've made a new friend. After all, face to face communication is encouraged by the Social Committee. You wonder how those people 20 years ago ever survived without casual talks with other Human beings, and how they spent three hours a day in that ancient, outdated mode of transportation; the automobile.

You arrive at your stop and depart, wishing your new friend a good day. You ascend the steps and back onto another promenade. High above you are the towering heights of mixed-use buildings. Their architecture is imposing at first, but in a short time a stranger to them will become accustomed to their quirks and charms. You think to yourself; "every one of them a masterpeice of Human creation, a testament to what we can do when we work together. " All the buildings in this area are based on much older, Victorian designs with many frills and variations to keep them interesting. Many are brightly painted along their first few floors so as to be more friendly to those walking on street level. Each is engineered to be in a position to allow maximum sunlight to fall on the promenades, while blocking the wind-tunnel effect of older cities. One of the main designs is a north-south orientation to minimize the amount of sun they block. This design has various peaks, so that its shadow is not quite as tall as a building of its height might be. The base is masoned specifically to look like the old imposing structures of the 19th century, but around the 3rd floor this gives way to steel and glass. The rooves of these buildings are made from solar panels, as well as much of the siding, in order to capture light to provide 50% of the building's necessary power. These buildings are never dull; each was built as if in competition for beauty with other nearby buildings. The promenade around your building is full of people casually walking to work. Its about 8:53, and some people are finishing up their conversations before heading into the office.

Your building is one of those described above. You feel proud to work in a building of such magnificence. You've seen pictures of mid to late 20th century architecture. One failure after another, usually. You recall your impressions of what is now a wasteland, but once was called suburbia. "A poverty of soul; no community, no grandness, no practicality," you think to yourself. You arrive at your desk, greeted by your fellow workers as you sit down. You and your team sit at a table, whose shape you might call a half-swirl. There are no dividers in your office, nor in many others these days. The cubicle, as it happens, has been nearly extinct for some years now. The communitive ideas of the Social Comittees leeched into the workplace, which resulted in more team-based work, more job security, and more regular hours. This abolished the need for tiny individual work spaces.

Much of your work requires your computer, which is seamlessly integrated with non-digital media through a variety of imput devices. Paperwork was considered environmentally destructive, and so the Business Comittees recommended closer ties with digital documentation and media. Your work consists of providing management solutions to companies in the US, China, Brazil, India, and United Korea. You and your team daily speak to your equivalents in these companies.

The Committees were formed in 2009 when it was realized there was an energy crisis at hand. For the first time in 90 years, governments reacted quickly to impending disaster and the United Nations created these committees to oversee the world-wide powerdown. After careful management of the remaining fossil fuel stocks, society was able to collectively achieve a successful reduction in its energy use while simultaneously investing in renewable sources of energy. Meanwhile, the committees made recommendations to simplify life and increase sociability, so that the epidemics of anti-social behaviour, violence, stress, obesity, and heart disease would be eased. Although some tight restrictions on population, energy use, and goods consumption were passed, many had recently been removed as the supply and demand for resources reached equalibrium again. A few of the committees had been dissolved in the past six months, their purposes being fulfilled.

Your day is full of work, but each day is rewarding since your company offers a profit-sharing scheme as many others do. You know that the harder you and your team work, the higher your reward will be. Your workplace is great, and a lunch outdoors is always welcome and comfortable. You can sit in one of the many public tables in the plaza below, under an umbrella, enjoying your meal. Your team joins you and you have a hardy conversation about upcoming entertainments at the Arts Hall, which is about 16 minutes walk from your flat. A young member of your team wondered what such halls would have provided in the old suburbs, thinking to make a joke at the slovenly mannerisms reputed to be the lot of suburbanites. You reply that suburbia did not have arts venues, and that the people there were ignorant of finer things. Your collegue is shoked, unbelieving that such a staple of social life in all communities was at one time unheard of outside of the cities.

Your day complete, you return to your flat. It takes about 10 minutes. Your children arrive shortly after from the nearby elementary school. One of them asks if she might learn more about what cities were like when you were a child. You sit on your couch and begin to explain that cities in your youth were a place of only work, sometimes alternative entertainment, but rarely a place to live. "Why daddy?"

"Well, most of the people who worked in the cities preferred to live in suburbia and commute every day. They would all get into their cars at dawn and drive down the freeway, sometimes at a snail's pace, and park in giant cement catacombs known as parking garages."

"I don't understand. Why did these people want to live so far from where they worked? Didn't they like the cities?" asks your child, as she attempts to conjure in her small mind the rediculous image of hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously getting into those polluting machines and conveying themselves slowly to work so early in the morning.

"Partly because of the speculators. These awful men and women drove the price of land in cities to absurd levels, so that no one could afford to live there. So they all ran away to where houses were cheaper."

"What happened to the speculators, daddy?"

"Well when we had the energy crisis, we learned that we had to start living closer together. Once we did that, we realized how the speculators were increasing the price of property so that the poor couldn't live near the rest of the people. The poor people got stuck in bad places, and took out the vengeance of their lot upon all through voting, and sometimes violence. Once we lowered the price of living in the city, everyone came together, and there was no more violence. Since property had become so cheap, there was no need for speculators, because their cut would have been so small."

"Why did the energy crisis happen?"

"Because all through the 20th century we used oil for heat, fuel, power, and chemicals. Then in 2011 the oil finally ran out, but some of our leaders recognized the problem and acted quickly, so that the committees were formed to help smooth the transition. Those were troubling times, since society had become so dependant on cheap fuel. We often wondered daily if there was going to be heat, transport, light, and food the next day."

"Our teacher says that because of all the oil we burned, the air was bad and people had trouble breathing, and that the sunlight burned people very badly and made them sick."

"That's right. All the oil and coal we burned let carbon dioxide and monoxide into the air, which are very bad gasses. These gasses stayed in the air for many years and trapped the sunlight inside the earth's atmosphere, making it hotter while burning the ozone layer. Many died from the bad air, and others became permanantly sick. All around the world, many species of animals died too, because it was too hot and too polluted for them. The heat also caused the arctic and antarctic iceburgs to melt, making water levels rise, causing severe weather and storms all over the world."

"Did the animals get better, and did the ice stop melting?"

"Many of the animals didn't make it. That's why you can't go into the Deeper Greenbelt without a six-month training course. The Environment Committee says we have to let nature heal, and in the meantime stay in our cities. As for the ice, our scientists say that next year will be the last that the ice melts, because those bad gasses stay in the atmosphere for so long."

"Daddy, teacher says we should see the new Museum of Folley, and that I can get bonus points for writing a review of it."

"Well then, we shall go after dinner. It's not far, just a 10 minute subway ride."

You eat dinner with your children, and then take them to the new museum. It's architecture is innovative, and along the sides of the steps are friezes of some of the errors of the past, such as "The SUV", "The Gas Bar", and "Oil War". As one of the many state-sponsored museums in your city, it is free to enter. In fact, the purpose is to educate. The first exhibit contains a number of historic artefacts, including the "Hummer" and samples of asphalt roads, which of course are made from petrochemicals and produce runoff into the local environment. The next exhibit contains statistical data, such as the absurd price of owning a car. "That's more than what I pay for our home," you exclaim. The third exhibit is about Oil Warfare, and how the United States declined into a third-world country. You read the entry plaque to your children, who listen intently;

"The critical moment came in 2002, when Canada's leaders decided not to help Mr. Bush in invading Iraq, because they knew the war was about oil. Because of the monumental expense of percecuting those wars, and the economic and social upheaval at home, Mr. Bush's America was rapidly becoming poorer and poorer. It was not until 2013 that a UN force led by China, Canada, and Russia was able to remove Mr. Bush from his repressive and tyrannical theocracy. Once Mr. Bush was removed from his throne, democracy was resored to America and her colonies awarded sovereignty. Unfortunately, the American economy had become so dependant on oil, and Mr. Bush was unwilling to work with the UN committees by the time of the energy crisis. The economy collapsed and all the wealthy capitalists left the country. Some compare today's America with mid 20th century India or Pakistan."

You enter the exhibit and you see a man standing there, viewing the artefacts from the Iran War. He says to you;

"Interesting exhibit, no?"

"I haven't yet seen everything in this room," you reply.

"Have a look. You'll find that this place has more to offer to adults than children."

"Indeed? Wait, I've seen you in the papers and on the news. You're the planner."

"Yes, amongst other things. Permit me to introduce myself. Mr. Moore, MPL. I designed this city."

"I've always wanted to say that it is a joy to live in your city. I believe your designs have greatly helped the committees' progress. "

"Thank you. I only wish they had listened earlier."

"Nevertheless, you have created something that people can live and enjoy. Your ideas revolutionized city living."

"Part of the key was to accomodate for Human randomness. The order of the grid was simply unfreindly and created harsh environmental concequences such as wind tunnel and eternal shadows beneath buildings. I also believe colour is much more inviting than grey or black. That's why many things are painted brightly. The greatest trick was trying to convince the conservatives to return to dense cities."

"However did you achieve that, luring them out of their suburban fortresses?"

"In the end, it was simply a matter of resources. There was no way they could stay there and commute, when everything else was happening in the city."

"Mr. Planner, why did people want to stay so long in suburbia? Teacher told us that it created anti-social behaviour and saddness," your daughter asks.

"Well, child, some people get stuck in their ways, and think that thier ideas are the only correct ones. Then once it starts to look like they are wrong, they are afraid to admit it, so they hold on even harder. Do continue veiwing the exhibits here. The past has a nasty habit of repeating itself, so the best way to prevent this from happening is to know past mistakes."

"Thank you, and good day."

"Good day."

And so you continue through the exhibits with your children, ensuring that they know how to recognize past mistakes, and not repeat them.

Now open your eyes and consider the life I have put before you. Is it really all that far-fetched? The only predictable thing about the future is that it is imminant. It cannot be avoided. So start thinking of it now. What I have presented here shows that urban density is the alternative to and solution to suburan ills. In the scenario, cities become the centres of wealth, while the suburbs are left to waste, since they can no longer exist without oil. The greenbelt I described is a full-out nature preserve, in 2 layers. First is the layer where Humans are allowed to experience and interact with nature. This layer is close to the city rim and easily accessable. The second layer is off limits to all buy a few Humans, so that their impact is limited and that nature might, in course, regenerate itself.

The transportation, monuments, and institutions of culture and education are free and many in this society. Free transportation encourages people to use it, and use it often. This allowed the society to replace the automobile, since transit was far cheaper than the alternative. Long range travel is replaced with electric maglev trains, high tech solar, and even sail. Monuments serve as a constant reminder of the perils of the past and insurance against future excesses. Education, the arts, and museums are free for all too, so that they might foster knowledge, community, and self-cultivation.

The key to the existance of this society is low property rates. Speculators and realtors all overvalue property because they get a certain cut of that value when it is sold. This increases the price of all property, driving people away from denser areas where speculative demand is higher. Speculators are also underminded by public housing, which has a value far below profit margins for such a profession. With cheap living for all, this society saves a great deal of its income which, on top of not owning a car, allows them to accumulate a great deal of capital, thus making society much richer and investment much more ready. The housing market is heavily regulated, so that most areas are about equal in property value, so as to not create enclaves of the rich separate from enclaves of the poor. Everybody lives close together, whether high or low income, thus increasing social harmoney.

The purpose of the committees might seem a little like something out of a totalitarian regime. The difference here is that they are guiding bodies controlled by the United Nations, whose sole purpose is to make recommendations based on research and empirical data. They have expiry dates so that their power is limited. The recommendations of the committees are de facto laws that may be interpreted based on a sovereign nation's needs. Here, the UN has a great deal of control over international relations and overall world development.

The point is this: much of the future of city planning has to take into account the fact that oil will run out. Thus we need to plan working cities, not impractical suburbs. We need to come together and live closer to our entertainment, work, and friends. Part of this is learning to be social again, rather than existing in our isolated little fortresses, never speaking to anyone on the street, and never encountering people of other classes. This was the project of the Social Committee in the scenario above. People had to learn to converse and interact more.

The city-as-antithesis has to surpass or at least meet the desires of those who once lived in suburbia. Part of this will be dealt with by the convenience of living close to everything. Today, zoning requirements make it very difficult to build anything that is mixed-use or close to existing housing. The NIMBY (not in my back yard) problem is a great impediment to commercial structures and high-density housing, and a complete barrier to low-income and public housing. We have to punish such selfish people, or at least make them understand that the world doesn't revolve around them. Another underminer of the NIMBY clause is a cut in real estate prices. NIMBY usually results from fears of lost property value because of the proximity of new installments that might be considered to have an adverse impact on the neighbourhood. If property values were already low, NIMBY wouldn't be as much of an issue. By removing NIMBY and changing zoning laws, we could build dense cities again, teeming with life, culture, and a wide variety of commercial venues. This would make living conditions very acceptable, as more people could access the convenience of having everything so close.

The other deterrant to living in cities is the 'concrete jungle' image. This image is the product of cities transformed into parkways. Streets of cement and asphalt disect the city everywhere, while parking garages rise on every block. This can be solved by either the upcoming energy crisis, or focused planning. Either way, roads and parking lots can be removed once commuters and automobiles are out of the picture. Streets, with their speeding cars and careless drivers, can be replaced by cobbled promenades, rows of trees, gardens, shop-stalls, and patios. Parking lots and garages can be wiped out and replaced by parks and green spaces. This would make cities much more delightful.

A final problem that cities have today is noise and pollution. Well guess where those come from.... The automobile. Sit in a city and just listen. What is the biggest, most pervasive noise you can hear. That's right, all the cars and trucks driving by. No quiet, and the air is thick with exhaust fumes. Every day hundreds of thousands of people drive into the city to work, bringing with them their suburban monstrosities spewing carbon monoxide and dioxide into the city air. The concentration of vehicles during the hottest parts of the day cause the sun's heat to become trapped in the city, which interacts with the greenhouse gasses to produce smog. The solution? kick out the automobiles. Make the city a no-drive zone. I bet pedestrians would feel a lot more safe too. Without automobiles and with today's technology, we can eliminate noice so that cities can become very quiet. Besides, suburbia isn't all that quiet, and the air is just as bad if not worse.

So imagine my quiet, freindly, green, sustainable vision of the future. Enjoy it. It is the best alternative to today's hectic lifestyle, and tomorrow's uncertainty. It's funny how the solutions to many problems can be some of the most ancient practices in Human civilization.

Hooray for the city!

Unionize This!

"Why should I work hard if some lazy bum gets the same wage as me for less work?"

Unions. Organized labour. Combinations of workers. Call them what you want, they're all 'lumbering dinosaurs'. They served their purpose, and now they are in sunset. I've worked for 2 unionized companies and 2 non-unionized companies, and I found the distribution of work more equal in the non-unionized companies than in those with unions. In the companies with unions, my coworkers were lazy, slow, and had poor work ethics. When it came to team work, I would rather someone working with me who is afraid to lose their job than someone who was secure and didn't care. So let us systematically prove that unions have no further use in much of today's economy.

1: Unions raise the wages of all, and especially of those who are in the union.
Untrue. The government sets minimum wage, which usually applies to crappy jobs for the unskilled anyways. The true high wages are given according to skill. Large business corporations never have unions because they pay well for good skills. In today's economy, if you don't learn a skill, you doom yourself to a minimum wage job. Everybody should know this by now. Also, why should those in a union be paid more than those who are not, for the same work? Unions also take dues, which you could otherwise use to buy things. They spend these dues on their corrupt administration, lobbying, and costly strikes. Finally, a raised wage is no good if the company cites rising labour costs and runs off to Mexico to produce their product cheaper.

2: Unions promote equality.
Untrue. Those who work hard will rarely be rewarded for it, while those who are lazy get the same pay for less work. This is not equality. Further, unions tend to be predominantly male and white, so that immigrants, new entrants, and women are often discriminated against. Unions are often clubbish and exclusive, and their benefits only apply to a core of full time employees. Unions often promote temporary and part-time work to prevent job loss for those who are already in the union, and these new positions are often not unionized and paid far less than a unionized employee for the same amount of work.

3: Unions represent the worker's interests.
Untrue. Unions are businesses in their own, and concerned with their own survival. They will often sell out their workers if it means staying in business. When it actually comes time to help out the workers, unions are often nowhere to be found, or in bed with management.

4: Unions protect jobs.
Untrue. The cost of running a factory with a union is larger than the cost of running a non-union factory. This causes companies to seek a better bottom line in new labour options. The unionized worker is then replaced by a machine, or the factory moves to another country.

5: Unions help democracy.
Untrue. Unions are interest groups that funnell workers' dues into their preferred political party. In some countries unions have the politicians in their pockets, and run the state. Unions have an interest in getting one party into power, and keeping them there. They do this regardless of their members' political leanings.

6: Unions increase productivity.
Untrue. Studies have been unable to show this connection. In some cases, the formation of a union results in the loss of productivity from time spent at meetings, more holidays, union demands, and increased worker indifference to management.

7: Unions encourage achievement.
Untrue. Unionization brings with it more generalized wages for all, so that there is no incentive to work harder and increase production. Everyone is paid the same regardless of how much work they do. Promotions are viewed by the union with suspicion, and the strife they cause with management results in worker-management antagonism, which in the end hampers the goals of both.

8: Unions fulfull a useful social justice role.
Untrue. The state plays a larger role in this. Unions are selfish exclusive. See 2.

9: Unions give their members a voice in the company.
Untrue. Suggestions from employees are veiwed with suspicion by management because of the antagonism created by the union. Often suggestions are never passed on to management, because the union deems them useless or even contrary to their cause. Further, there is no incentive to make suggestions because the union will claim the reward of such suggestions for itself.

10: Unions make the workplace safer.
Untrue. State laws and inspectors require companies to provide maximum safety for their employers. Failing this, workers can contact the worker's rights tribunals and inform on their company's lax practices.

There. Ahhhh, that feels good. The main thing that bugged me about unions is that whenever I worked really hard, I never got recognized. I also never got rewarded, and the lazy guy next to me who never did anything got the same wage as me. When I worked for non-unionized companies, I was rewarded and respected for my hard work. Now that's fairness!

I'm also a very strong capitalist, and believe that unions cost the economy a great deal through antagonisms, strike, extraction of fees and dues, and lazyness. They usually only protect those who do not have any skills, a condition which itself is the product of lazyness. Unions also drive up wages and reduce labour demand, resulting in less job creation. The threat of unionization causes businesses to shut down and move elsewhere.

So there you have it. Reasons not to join a union. Unfortunately, there's this law called the Rand Formula, that states that if you work permanantly for a unionized company, you must join the compan'y union and pay its dues. Yet another instance of inequality and lack of voice.

What's the point of unionizing a Sprawl-Mart anways? Employees last about 6 months there.

Confusion to the UFCW!

Intergenerational Inequality

Affectations!

Our society claims to be the most equal we have ever known. It is supposed that the evil and ancient monsters of racism, class barriers, and sexism have been subdued. Everyone has equal entitlements and rights protected by law, and all individuals have the right to freedom and the pursuit of happiness. During the great social upheaval after WWII, some of this became true. Unfortunately, bigotry exists in many places and in many ways. That, however, is the subject of another discussion (SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION). Today I will reveal to you a new evil that has appeared since WWII, one that was literally born of its veterans.

Some countries require a minimum term of military service from their youth, usually two years beginning at age 18. Like these countries, North America increasingly requires its youth to engage in a term of indentured servitude in the form of service industry jobs. It is no longer possible to succeed in life in North America without starting work at age 14 or 15. Money is a necessity to our material culture, and also to advance our social standing through education. After all, not all of us have our lives paid for by mommy and daddy. The expenses of being a teenager and 20 something in North America are ever increasing, and parents are less and less willing and able to provide them. Two major expenses are vehicular transportation (as mandated by the layout of suburbia) and tuition for post-secondary education.

So when all these teens go out looking for jobs, they often find that the market is limited. Most begin at the fast food level. If they're lucky, in a few years, they can move on to some other service, like golf courses, clothing, or groceries. Many will spend 5 years or more in the service industry, attending to the needs of more fortunate generations.

As the young progress to college/university, they must continue working, often at two or three jobs in order to finance growing tuitions. Full-time jobs are scarce, as are moderate wages. The inititive and intelligence of our society's youth are wasting away in kitchens and stock rooms, serving the middle aged and their families.

Meanwhile, between 1945 and 1960 our planet experienced an explosion of population growth known as the baby boom. In 2005 these baby boomers will turn into their 60's . Throughout their lives they have had everything handed to them. The 1950's and 60's were times of unprecidented prosperity, and the middle class knew it. They demanded a slice of that prosperity for themselves and their children. A democratic mandate like this could not be ignored and political parties jumped on the chance to cater to their demands. Baby bonuses, health care, pensions, and suburban infrastructure were recklessly implemented. As the baby boomers grew up, they learned from their parents how to demand things from the government. Since they got everything they wanted, they became accustomed to these institutions and their ways. If things didn't please them, they complained and the powerful democratic process responded. By always getting their way, the baby boomers developed a CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT. They believe they have a right to services from the government and from society no matter what the cost.

It's funny how things worked out. The baby boom is often described as a pig travelling through the snake of demographic time. Sometimes it's the pig eating the snake. In either way, they represent a massive flux in the delicate balace of Human existance. Anyways, as they grew up, social services adapted to their needs. In the 50's elementary schools were improved and became mandatory. In the 60's, highschools experienced the same legislations and funding. In the 60's universities and colleges recieved attention as well to accomodate this growing population. In the 70's jobs were readily available for the baby boomers when they got out of their nearly tuition-free post secondary, and if not there was always unemployment insurance. Of course, the baby boomers and their parents had to extend their political power to the workplace. Unions grew, entrenched, and developed interests. The funny part? Now in 2005, the baby boomers aren't in university, and don't need good entry-level jobs. They've been around the block, and they now hold all the good, high-paying jobs as well as investing their voting practices with pensions and healthcare concerns (which are the primary political motive of an aging population). So come time for their children and grandchildren to get education and a good job, well, too bad.

The aging baby boomers will demand higher pensions from the state and from corporations. Many are unfunded and in the case of the state, retroactive. This means that when this gigantic demographic collectively retires between 2010 and 2025, they will overdraw on the pension account. There simply isn't enough money to pay for them. Since healthcare is free, why not live for another 20 years, to the age of 85. So 20 years retired on the golf course, getting free hip replacements once and a while, tends to add up in social and economic costs. No state, under its current economic practices, can sustain such a massive withdrawl over such a long period of time. Companies will go bankrupt paying their retirees' pensions and health benefits as they just keep on living and withdrawing. The state will experience similar defeat, except it has two advantages over companies. It can create debt, and tax the young.

My generation and its successors will be paying for the baby boomer's excesses all our lives. Pensions often operate on a pay-as-you-go scheme, so that the currently retired are supplied from the labour of those who are currently working through taxation. Since the state pension system was implemented to immediately effect those already retired (who hadn't paid a cent into it), the program in all states has contributed to massive debt. Debt is the miracle solution to any state's problems. Simply spend the money now, and let the next generation worry about paying it off.

Then we have mediflation (the inflating costs of supplying medicare). Medicare has been getting increasingly expensive through the centuries. When professional associations for medical personnel were established in the 19th century, they acted no different than old guilds. They sought to limit the labour supply by requiring membership, enforcing strict rules regarding education, and forming alliances with government. Of course this has only caused the increase in price for medical attention. Technology has also contributed to rising costs. New machines cost money to develop and to buy. Similar to all things, as soon as a beneficial device is invented the baby boomers have demanded that they have a right to it. Our hospitals are required to own and operate all the latest expensive machinery because a large voting block says they have a right to it. More people getting older, more demand for devices and doctors, more people live longer, those people get older, repeat ad nauseum. Now the baby boomers are demanding that they have the right to free pharmaceutical drugs. Guess who's going to pay for that? No wonder doctors have become pill-pushers. With such an ignorant, hypocondriac population to deal with, I'd stop caring too.

The counterpart to mediflation is pensioneering. This is a political tool used especially before the 80's, where parties promised increased pensions to all if they were elected. Who could refuse a free ride after 65? So off to the polling stations (especially the elderly, who have nothing to do and so vote in record numbers). And that's how pensions increase. No politician will ever campaign for fiscal resonsibility regarding pensions and healthcare. That's political suicice, because the body of middle class, middle age voters (who are by far the majority) have a special interest in these two issues: they are getting older.

The baby boomers have had everything handed to them. From the womb to the tomb the state has financed their development and lifestyle. No government in history has ever given so much as modern western states do. That is because prior to 1945, debt was considered anathema and any state deficits were immediately remedied by slashing social programs and increasing taxation. A debtor nation was an outcast from the international community, and internally investors were uninterested in a state that couldn't balance its budget. With the wonderful invention of debt, modern states have been able to buy programs and infrastructure without remorse. After all, it's not the taxes of the baby boomers that will pay off our countries' debts.

Meanwhile in 2005, there's no free ride from the state for today's young. Baby bonuses have disappeared, public schools are underfunded, and tuition rates soar. Child poverty has increased in the developed world to a rediculous level. Teens and 20 somethings have to work 2 jobs or more to make ends meet and put themselves through school. They cannot look forward to a permanant, lifetime job either (which means no long-lasting pension and health benefits). There won't be any high-wage jobs for them until they themselves are 40 years old. The jobs they work now have universal commonality, a cultural reference like rock and roll or bell bottoms for the older generation. We all did it, we all put in time in the service industry. We all stood behind a counter in an ill-fitting uniform asking our parents if they want fries with that. We all have our burns and scrapes from preparing the food. We all hate the customer, who is very often not right. We all worked harder than most baby boomers ever have for minimum wage.

Then we take our miniscule savings and spend them on schooling and transportation, and that first apartment. Four years later and we have a useless peice of paper that won't get a job unless you know someone. Two more years again, another peice of paper, and maybe a decent job. Then we began our lives.

In the meantime, the fruits of our labour are extracted in regressive taxes which loosely translate into transfer payments from the young to the old. Governments take from students to finance healthcare and pensions, while taking from the middle aged to finance more healthcare and pensions. Then the near-retiring masses complain that healthcare is underfunded, but they don't want to pay for it with increased taxes.

Well here's that catch. You cannot have more and better social programs without cutting existing programs or increasing taxes. Since tax increases are anathema, governments are forced to choose which programs to cut in order to fulfill their campaign promises. Tuition funding is often one of the first to be assaulted. Clearly Human capital improvement isn't on the agenda. Nothing matters as long as health and pensions are left alone, or even increased.

This is a critical error, because the youth are the future. At the very least, the baby boomers must realize that it is today's students that will be paying for their social services. Would it not be better to have highly skilled, well-paid workers to get more tax money from? Instead, the baby boomers would prefer low-skill, low-wage workers. But how can any state support healthcare and pensions on such a weak tax base? By inhibiting higher education and good job placements, the baby boomers are only hurting themselves.

This culture of entitlement is the result of high expectations. Of course, it wasn't always this way. For those born before 1920, life was difficult (not to say those who lived through the 30's didn't have it hard). Before the 1920's you worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. You lived in a small apartment, you didn't own a car, and you never retired. You worked until you physically and mentally could not, and then your children would support you. You had to work hard, or you would be fired. Today, things are different. The baby boomers have lived a life of luxury compared to their grandparents. They work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. They often own 1-2 cars and a suburban home that would be the equivalent to a 19th century estate. They don't work very hard to earn any of this. They have been freed of the responsibility for their elderly at the expense of the state, and they look to retirement as a cultural right at the age of 65. Regardless of how long they live after that, they can expect to collect a monthly paycheck without working for it. Despite having contributed to the pension system since the 60's, most baby boomers will end up collecting much more than they ever put in. This will result in further debt which will become the responsibility of their children.

So back to the beginning. Age discrimination is a real issue, but it's not the elderly who are being descriminated against. It's those who were never asked what they wanted because they were too young to speak up for themselves. After all, in most countries you have to be 18 to vote. Even then, the elderly and the middle-aged vastly outnumber the youth. These two groups are universally two-issue voters: health care and pensions, the two things that perpetuate their existance.

The whole point of the social safety net is to reduce the risks of life. The risk of incurring large unexpected medical expenses, the risk of taking care of the elderly, the risk of not working very hard, and so on. Unfortunately, expensive social programs have exposed us to new risks. Massive debts and yearly deficits have to be paid off sooner or later (likely later), while the increased lifespan and hefty pensions multiply each other to create a generation of people likely to extract money from states for decades before they die. All other programs will have to be sacrificed to pay for these two, since increased taxes and spending cuts are suicice for politicians. No one will ever campaign for fiscal responsibility.

See my upcoming STATISTICS chapter for some interesting details.

The future looks bleak for today's youth. Our only hope is that the excesses of the baby boomer diet catch up with them. All those cheeseburgers and sodas might save us all. Otherwise, it's McDonalds, Walmart, and golf courses for our youth, and a waste of such great energy and potential.

Abschied.

Special Feature I: A Funky Letter

Here's something a friend of mine wrote to someone concerning the ignorance of faith. I decided to present it as a special feature for all to enjoy. I need not comment on it since the letter reflects my ideas exactly. Funny that. So.... enjoy!

------,

Though while the prospect of a better afterlife may be immensely appealing does that make it sensible? Though I consider myself “an open minded atheist” I question the validity of basing our emotional stability on the prospect that “we are well looked after”. I simply see too many contradictions with religion as a whole to accept the concept of an afterlife though I have no right or intention to convince anyone that there is not. I simply would recommend that people question why it is they believe what they do, as a false sense of security that does nothing in the long-run, save perhaps encourage ignorance. Finally I come down to a perspective that I share and I’m sure my friend feels the same: due to our mortality and nature we want answers, and since we have no immediately “confirmed” arbiter that provides relief or security we develop or accept existing beliefs. This is fine but to the issue of “great life after death,” if it truly is a basis of personal security then it becomes probable that a great majority of individuals are embracing Pascal’s Wager. Now I do not have the time or patience to attempt to explain the theory in full (please look it up if you require more clarity, sometimes its good to do non-compulsory research). The theory essentially describes the potential wagers surrounding god and religion, expressing it much as a gamble or “wager”. Roughly, the 4 wagers are: 1) God exists and you believe in him and you win the jackpot, heaven is your playground. 2) God exists and you do not believe in him, so apparently you go to hell (I’m not even going to get started on that today). 3) God does not exist and you don’t believe in him, you loose nothing but gain nothing, best to have lived an exciting life. 4) God does not exist and you believe in him, you gain nothing except a false sense of security until the point of your demise, and loose nothing (unless you wasted your life adhering to a certain restrictive moral/ethical code at which point you wasted your one chance to truly live your life). Personally I understand the rationality of the wager and many people directly or indirectly take the wager whether they realize it or not. The largest problem with the wager however is one of faith, for if I were a religious man and only so on account of outcome 1 of the wager, then my faith would not be of my own free will but directly influenced by fear of my own mortality. This could imply that since my faith is fear induced I not only plead ignorance but I have also chosen my faith due to physical external factors which could imply that I would be unworthy of heaven, as my faith is not “true” as per say one who embraces religion out of free choice, not out of fear. Therefore based on my personal understanding of the world and the weighing of the evidence I would be embracing wager 3.
I’m not suggesting that I am correct on any of this (I keep in mind that I only have little “t” (Human) knowledge) but I do feel it is imperative that everyone questions their position on religion (from atheists to fanatics) and that they try not to isolate their scope by blocking out all forms or reason, because lets face it folks; though none of us want to admit that we’re wrong, at the same time we can’t all be right.

Just some thoughts to digest…

Cal Funk

Slavery to Oil

Greetings!

Ok I know some of my discussions have been a little dark lately. Well, it might not get any better with this one. The future, if we continue our current path, looks bleak. I won't hide it from you. There are many problems in the world and they require serious, immediate attention. I am sure that the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean will expose some of those problems, but there are others, deeply rooted and hidden that are very close to the North American home. By solving certain problems in North America and Europe, we might alleviate or even completely abolish developing world issues. One of those problems is conflict over resources. The most contentious resource today is not the gold of the Spanish Main, nor the silks and spices of Cathay. It is oil. Something considered centuries ago a nuisance and an obstruction to agriculture is today coveted as if it were a sacred relic. Yet we then proceed to burn it at ever increasing levels, releasing harmful emissions that have already begun to effect the quality of the lives of all Humans. Something that so ensnares us, something we so rely upon, can only make one thing out of us: slaves.

Oil controls our will. What oil commands, we must obey, simply because we have develped such a massive, unnatural dependancy upon it. If oil were to run out tomorrow, the economy would collapse. Goods could no longer be moved, power would no longer be supplied, we could no longer produce a wide array of items, and of course, the suburbanites would not be able to get to work. We would have to rearrange our entire lives to live an existance without cheap, abundant, liquid energy. We would have to change agricultural methods, modes and means of production, the very products we consume. Naturally, when a resource becomes scarce, there will be conflicts, wars, and massive price inflations.

The truth is, oil is becoming scarce. It is running out. With Asian countries like China, India, and Indonesia jumping onto the development wagon, demand for oil will ever increase. As the popuation of the world grows, and demands more oil-dependant goods, the supply of oil will be rapidly depleted. Some day, oil will become extinct. It is a finite resource, one that can only diminish in time. Given the laws of supply and demand, the price will indefinately increase until it no longer becomes an affordable energy option. This will occur long before it runs out. The law of diminishing returns will take effect in two ways: 1, that the cost of extracting oil will soon outstrip the profits of extraction as wells become harder and harder to find and drill; and 2, the price of oil will be too high for it to be a useful, cost-efficient fuel.

Almost every action we take today has some dependancy on oil. On the surface, this may not be obvious. But, like the relation between worker and the value they add to materials from nature, oil is responsible for a great deal of hidden interaction with our world. Most importantly, a vast majority of our food is the product of growth and/or transportation assisted by oil. Very little of our food is produced locally (partly because subdivisions consume all arable land outside cities). Without oil, there would be no oranges from Florida, no lettuice from California, and no beef from Alberta. These items would be so difficult and expensive to transport, that the added cost of transportation would make purchasing these products unfeasable. Many of our edible goods are shipped by truck from all over the continent, and sometimes from outside it. Very few are produced locally, especially those found in today's supermarkets. This problem is particularly acute in cold climates, because come winter, no goods can be produced locally and supply is dependant on shipments from elsewhere. Further, many of our fertilizers and pesticides, upon which modern agriculture is so dependant, are based on petroleum.

I beleive I have mentioned at great length other products made from oil. Plastics, the miracle material of the 20th century, are derived from oil. How much of your household goods are composed, even in part, of plastic? We have become reliant on plastic bottles, ceran wrap, garbage bags, and electronics which are all largely made from plastic. See HISTORY LESSON IV, near the bottom for more detail.

Of course, many goods in general follow the same path as our food. It is produced in location A, stored in location B, shipped to location C, and arrives at your home (D). The total distance that that item travelled, multiplied by the milage of the shipping method divided by the total number of units shipped in that method will give you a good idea of exactly how much oil was required to move that item from A to D. Now follow this calculation for everything you buy, multiplied by the number of people buying things, and that will tell you how much oil goes into getting things from factories to markets. Nothing is produced locally. We are dependant on a huge network of world-wide shipping, which in turn is dependant on cheap, abundant fuel. If oil ran out tomorrow, that massive world-wide supply network would shut down because the added value of moving goods would inflate the price rediculously.

It is generally believed that the automobile has given the Human race increadible freedom. Alas, the automobile is the ultimate symbol of our slavery to oil. Every day, hundreds of millions of people all over the world hop into their cars, trucks, vans, and SUVs and drive everywhere. Walking has almost been forgotten. Our communities have beed designed and subjected to accomodate the automobile. It is now nearly impossible to travel anywhere without a vehicle, unless you live in the central core of a town and work/study in that area. Everything, from business to shopping, residences to schools, are designed to be widely spaced from other facilities. The very existance of today's streets, which offer so many barriers and vast distances to other forms of transportation, is to accomodate the auto. Foot travellers and cyclists are made to wait at intersections while cars pass by (this is particularly irritating when it's cold and you're a pedestrian). The automobile had a hand in the destruction of the city and the development of suburbia. Driving everywhere allowed the upper and middle class to live far from where they worked, and they chose to initiate their idea of order in the suburbs. Meanwhile cities were made into thoroughfares and parking lots to accomodate the 9-5 visit of suburbanites. Sidewalks and pedestrian footpaths were replaced by dangerous roads, while green spaces were eliminated for the sake of parking. The insensitive steamrolling of the car driver has fractured the communities of our world.

On an individual level, automobiles have made slaves of their owners. Aside from constantly feeding it gasoline at gas stations (which, of course, you have to drive to), the extortion of insurance, and the cost of purchasing a vehicle in the first place are contributing factors to the rising debt of the middle class. On the periphery, vehicles require constant repair and expensive replacement parts, fancy and practical accessories, and regular maintenance to keep running. Further, when it snows, tax dollars are spent to make roads usable for vehicles via the plough (which for roads is often on the scene way before those for sidewalks) AND many people have to shovel their driveways to get the car out in the first place. This is done in two ways: backbreaking manual labour, or the lazy solution, a snow blower. Here's a kicker: snowblowers require oil too! So do ploughs for that matter. So the next time you go out at 6 am to remove the snow from your driveway so you can drive to work, ask yourself if the automobile has really granted you freedom. Or rather, has it enslaved your labour and your wallet?

The grotesque cost of owning a car, from license fees to traffic violation tickets, will only increase. Let's try to make some estimates based on a young driver in Canadian dollars.

Buying a decent car: $22,000
Driving tests: $70 x3 (more if you fail, which is likely)
Insurance: $3000 a year
License renewal for 5 years: $75
Gas: $21-$25 a week x52 weeks
Repairs/maintenance: approx $250-500 a year
Accessories (snow scraper, snow blower, fluids, oils, tires, cleaning, parking): $150-$1000
Plus tax.

Total maximum cost from start to finish for a new driver for one year: approx $27970.60
Total maximum yearly cost: $5685.60
Total maximum yearly cost with tax (Ontario): $6538.44
(assuming a weekly gas cost of $22.80)

Hmmmm. What could $6538.44 a year buy you? Better yet, what could $27970.60 and $6538.44 a year buy you? Given the lifespan of today's cars (approx 8 years), that totalls approximately $73739.68 (and that doesn't account for rises in gas prices or insurance). Once the car kicks the bucket (for cars are build cheap these days, and the cost of repair is rediculous), you gotta dump another $22000. Some people spend twice this amount on a new car! Imagine a new SUV with all the fixin's, combined with it's maintenance, gas, and insurance prices. Perhaps there's something better we could be spending our money on. Oh wait, we NEED a car to get from point A to point B, because all those years we were driving we demanded that everything be so far apart!

Ok, thousands of dollars later we have the vehicle. Drive, park it somewhere, drive some more. Clean it, park it, fill it with gas. Is it a rewarding, self-fulfilling exercise? Does it grant or ensure any real liberty? By the way, while you were doing all that driving, you were contributing tonnes of greenhouse gasses to the environment, adding to ozone deficiency.

The great commute. Traffic jams, the idiot in front of you, even the occasional deadly crash. Mental stress and anguish, lateness, early risings. Is this freedom?

Ever notice that two of the world's biggest industries are cars and oil? There's a lot of money and jobs tied into these sectors. Without them, our economy would be very different. Yet the automobile is the ultimate exponent of oil's enslavement of the Human race. Through our own stupidity, it has transformed our way of living into one that is unsustainable, stressful, and entirely dependant.

Last year the government of Ontario announced that it will pay the Ford Motor Company $100 million to keep its plant in Sarnia. I believe Ontario now produces more vehicles than anywhere else in the world. But what could that $100 million of taxpayer money have been spent on otherwise?

-Paying off the province's debt, which Premier Mcguinty has lamented since taking office.

-The total payment of all student loans and debts in Ontario.

-Funding a healthcare system that is reportedly in very bad shape.

-Tax refunds for all.

-Improving underfunded public transit in all cities.

-Preparing for the Kyoto Protocol.

Nope, it goes to Ford's executives, almost like a bribe, to keep producing in Ontario. I don't think the 3900 auto worker jobs could ever generate $100 million in tax revenue.

So we spend absurd amounts on our vehicles. We depend on food and goods shipped from far away lands. We rely heavily on petrochemical products. Our tax dollars are spent on supporting and enforcing this matrix. Is this really freedom?

Where will you be when the oil runs out?

Think about it.