Sancte Leibowitz, Ora Pro Nobis

In Al Jazeera:
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2013/04/201344105231487582.html
(a story on the oil cartels)

...The US and Putin‘s Russia would prop up despots, and exploit regional conflicts to maintain a grip on the oil fields of the Caucusus and the Caspian.
But they would not have counted on the rise of a new, strong and hungry China, with an almost limitless appetite for oil and energy. Today, the US, Russia and China contest the control of the former USSR’s fossil fuel reserves, and the supply routes. A three-handed match, with the world as spectators, between three ferocious beasts – The American eagle, the Russian bear, and the Chinese dragon.

This type of scenario emphasizes why it is so important that a certain level of civilization and technology be maintained, for if there were to occur a major war or major disruptions, economic or climate, and the level of civilization were to suffer a depression and loss of wealth, would the survivors be able to use the remaining fossil fuels.... which would be the most difficult to tap into?

We have no guarantees. By consuming irreplaceable resources, we deny any easy fix for future generations who find themselves in a temporary technology deflation, decline, or hiatus.

When plain song is heard in the cloisters of St. Leibowitz, fossil fuels will be too far away and difficult of access.
From the depletion of cheap fuels to warm us on wintry nights, O, Saint Leibowitz, deliver us!

(inspired by Arsen at Gulf Ghenes)
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