The Dharma And Peak Oil

Here’s an excerpt from a short piece (click here) about the coming Great Instability as the oil economy begins to pull apart:

The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.

The military seems to be taking peal oil much more seriously than most of our institutions.

There are a wide range of likely effects, of course, but for the sake of congruence with the purpose of this blog, I want to focus on the buddhadharma.

Here are some off-the-top negative effects:

– It’ll be more expensive to get to retreats so the retreat so the large retreat centers and monasteries might be hurt.

– Car travel to the local dharma centers will be come more difficult and even prohibitive.

– The costs of heating/cooling will impact the bottom line of dharma nonprofits.

And positive:

– There’ll be more incentives for people to work together, sharing housing, for example, in various forms of community and monastic living.

– The limits on consumption during the transition from an oil-based economy might encourage more people to look to the dharma to understand their lives.

– And more people may direct more energy and intelligence toward personal verification rather than immediate gratification.

What effects do you see on the practice of the buddhadharma and what specific steps might we take now to prepare?

The Dharma and Peak Oil