To the Country

I'm almost certainly going to be moving out to the country.

Wait. Before you get started, let me clarify. This move wouldn't happen until at least the end of my freshman year, so we've still got a little while. And notice the "to" there. I'm not moving out of the country, probably not even out of the state. I'm simply moving out to the country.

There's a few reasons why, as follow.

My parents are extremely in-tune to the concept of peak oil. That probably doesn't mean much to many of you, so let me explain.

As we were all taught, oil is not a renewable resource. There is a definite amount of it in the ground, and once we pump it all out, it's gone. At least for another few million years. Peak oil is the concept that, for reasons I'm not quite sure of, if you graphed oil production for as long as oil is available, you would see it steadily increase, and then it would hit a "peak", where the world was producing more oil than it ever had before and ever would. After that peak, oil production will decline, until we're producing none.

What does that mean? It means that after the peak, since we'll be producing less oil, it will be more expensive. Meaning that anything involving oil will be more expensive. That idea doesn't seem significant, but take this into consideration:

Nearly everything needs oil.

Take a picnic in the park. For one, it took oil to power your car, which you almost certainly used to get to the park. (Seriously, while biking is a very nice option, especially when a lot of things are close to you, not many people utilize it.) Looking back further, your car was created in a factory, which was powered by generators that almost certainly burned petroleum for fuel. The creation of plastic requires petrochemicals. It took fuel to deliver your car to the dealership where you bought it. Your car requires oil, more than you'd think.

But you're at the park, and you spread your checkered blanket. Blanket made of wool, let's say. The sheep that the wool came from were probably fed grain. Grain that was probably fertilized with petrochemical fertilizers. The wool was then delivered to a factory, which took oil, and then to a store.

Then there's your food...

Everything involves oil. My parents are aware of this, and want to stop depending on it as much. They figure we can't really do that here, in the middle of a fairly big city area.

So they want to move to a farm, where we can grow our own food and do other things that rely less on oil, so that when the peak comes-- and it's predicted to come soon-- and goes, we're not for the worse.

(And my dad has had this random idea to start a farm in his head for a while. Go figure.)

Unfortunately, I've kinda got a life here, as most of you know. (Yes, I have a life.) I'm surrounded by the best group of friends ever. I've quite literally grown up with some of you, having known you for six, seven, eight years. Putnam has one of the best drama departments in the state, or so it's said, and I want to pursue a career in the theatric arts. I am a city kid, no doubt, and I don't want to leave my life here behind.

I DON'T WANT TO MOVE.