At the Tällberg Forum in Tällberg, Dalarna, Sweden, Chief Jake Swamp from the Akwesasne Mohawk Tribe and I had a conversation about “What lifestyles without oil?”.
Tällberg Forum 2008
Chief Jake Swamp emphasized that, considering the changes we are now faced with, it is important that we stick to the ethical values that we have developed over the generations and that guide us today. One thousand years ago there were seven Indian tribes in what today is the state of New York, and they were continuously fighting. Then the great ”Peacemaker” came forward and made peace among the tribes. ”We only have one plate of resources (food) and we are trying to divide these resources with a knife. When we do this we cut our mouths. If we replace the knife with a spoon, we will not hurt ourselves; and if we at the same time only take what we need, there will be enough for all”. Thus peace was made among the warring tribes.
In my introduction I started with the new-born baby. The first hours of life is probably the only time when the new-born baby in our society is completely independent of oil and fossil fuels. Soon it needs food from Mother, and the energy in the milk comes from the food that Mother eats, and this food has usually been produced using oil. There is fossil fuel in artificial fertilizer and in biocides; fossil-fuel driven tractors plough, sow, spread fertilizer and biocides, and harvest; and fossil-fuel driven trucks transport the food to silos, warehouses and shops. Yet for many of us the greatest amount of oil that is used for our food is when we take our own car to the shops. It has been calculated in the USA that to get 1 000 calories on your kitchen table, 10 000 calories of oil have been used up. The energy in the food is oil.
The energy in our food is fundamental for our lives. It allows us to keep a body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius and it allows our biological systems to work. The interesting point is that the systems of the body don’t care if you are rich or poor – it needs its daily dose of energy. The most important thing for all of us is to have food on the table.
A few days after it is born, the baby will be taken home. The transport is likely by car, so once again oil comes into the picture. And when you get home, it is usually fossil fuels that are needed to create your home environment. Your home is the next most important thing for all of us. When we peer into the future, a future with less oil, it will be just those things – food and home – that must be prioritized. What will be decisive for the future is how we ”kill the time in-between”.
Chief Jake Swamp also told that in our decisions, we should always think seven generations into the future. From my own perspective: My grandfather used no oil. When I was a kid we got oil-fired central heating in our home, and my Dad bought first a motorbike and then a car. My children and grand-children will use oil, but, as time goes by, less than I do. In fifty years time I may have great grand-children and great-great grand-children, and by then we will be far down the peak-oil slope. We can observe that the oil era from beginning to end is approximately seven generations. We can also easily observe that we haven’t thought about the next seven generations in the decisions that we have taken so far.
Chief Jake Swamp had another word of wisdom, namely that if you want to collect water in a cup from a stream, you should always move the cup with the flow of the water. If we take water against the flow of water, the stream could take the cup with it or splash you with water. We say that you shouldn’t spit upwind. These are important reflections for our future without oil, when the flowing energy of nature (biomass, sun, wind and water) shall give us food on the table and a comfortable home.
Webcast on demand: http://www.compodium.se/tallberg08/ondemand/
