‘Fundamental principle of the way of life’

As I stand with my rock pick in one hand, the ancient sediments stand before me. Encrusted in the layering, fossils come rarely. As I hold an ammonite around 250 million years old, my head spirals into a time warp. Gazing around I struggle to imagine the earth’s beauty, that this once innocent creature lived upon. All in a matter of seconds it easily crumbles into dust, only to blow away to create some other life force. Delicately as it does, it only represents the embellishment of our life, the life which will slow decay and crumble before ones eyes, when the peak oil displays itself. Fossil hunting gives me that brief but extensive feeling of connection with nature, removing me from the chaos embedded in the world around me.

 Life as we know it today couldn’t have been imagined without the processes which undertook 100’s of million years before the dinosaurs. Us complex humans, live in a complex society, which began from simple single celled organisms, phytoplankton and algae. The beginnings of our modern, technologically advanced civilisation all derived from one daring to drill a whole into the earth 150years ago, to profoundly discover the birth of the future, or was it?

Looking around today I see limitless potential for a sustainable, environmentally friendly world. Yet, we refuse to take charge and demand change. Oil the blood force. The profit making, ‘‘quick buck’’, attitude which we humans are controlled by. I had never known about this new sustainable alternative. I grew to learn about its greatness for the future of our lives and generations to come. They called it ‘Biodiesel’. Vegetable oil it’s known as. Intrigued by the proposed advantages of this alternative, I was to discover its essence could easily fill our technological world, with no adverse effects on the environment. No changes needed. All but one, the mind of the people, to stand up and demand for this clean biodiesel, to reverse the pollutants and wars oil has brought to our world. Biodiesel is capable of running in all diesel engines; the engine created by a German man in 1892, was a revolutionary and highly efficient new design. His idea was to allow farmers to have a readily available source of fuel, grown on their land, removing the power from evil profit making corporations and putting it in the hands of the average man or lady. Easily made from domestically produced crops, for instance, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower, it can be stored in the same environmental conditions as petroleum diesel. Handling and transporting of biodiesel is safe, as any spills would not be hazardous for the environment or people, as its biodegradable. The biodiesel has a high flash point, unlike petroleum diesel; its lower temperature could form an ignitable mixture in the air. 

 On the evening of 29^th September 1913, the engine developed for environmental purposes was all to float ashore, along with Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel’s floating lifeless body. All around me, my senses create havoc inside of me; the world could have been so dramatically different. People assimilate society’s corruption by conceptualizing the hidden propaganda in media. The power lies in the people, but the people have no power. They choose to be brainwashed, mind mashed and crippled. Humans, for over 12,000 years have always chosen to develop complexity to solve complexity. With complexity follows resource consumption. I myself know I once would have rather not increased the cost of daily life without having a clear benefit display itself. Effort, time, money, or just plain annoyance, these are the common factors which prevent change. Identifying the existence of these factors and effectively removing them will cause a dramatic halt in suffering that prevails throughout society. This suffering displayed in the locations of the OPEC countries where oil derives from. Bareness prevails throughout the green lush hills, above the sedimentary rocks and looking over the vastly stretched blue ocean. I can only wonder why no one else has thought of growing crops to produce biodiesel, with no environmental costs as well as benefiting the economy, you could only ask, ‘why not?’ The relationship we have between complexity and resources prevents the development of sustainability, as the complexity transpires throughout society, often in advance of sustainability.  

            At a life-threatening rate we are causing global warming, our sea levels are rising, ice caps are melting, and weather patterns are changing. All this harm presented but for what? I stand frozenly still, looking out to the ocean. If everyone together prevented greenhouse gases from pouring into our environment from burning fossil fuels, then I would not be drowning in water. We can change now, what are we waiting for? A fuel that burns cleaner, that doesn’t pour out cancer causing chemicals into our atmosphere, is nontoxic and biodegradable, costing cheaper than gas? We have it, and we have it now! Our world would be smiling; our future generations would be smiling and we will be smiling.