Over the past few weeks, energy sourcing has become a hot topic.  With oil costs on the permanent rise and a draining war in the mideast, it seems everyone is suddenly eager to research and invest in alternatives.  Every magazine, blog, etc. has something to say about where we should be looking for energy to power our modern lifestyles.  It certainly makes for interesting reading- one business magazine that I recently read had articles on everything from ethanol production to the future of plastics and hydrogen fuel.  Since the magazine was targeted at the businessman, the articles mainly focused upon the investment opportunities and risks, and the people already leading the charge for each source.  While incredibly informative and smartly-written, this magazine, like many other discussion of this topic that I have recently crossed, still failed to address the underlying cause of our energy crisis- our energy-intensive lifestyle.

We depend upon energy.  We live far from the things we need/desire, preferring to ship ourselves and the items hundreds and thousands of miles.  Our networks of mere existence are incredibly far-flung.  Imagine, for a second, if these were somehow interrupted; where would you get your food, your water, your clothes and books?  How far do you go on a daily basis for work, or even simple groceries?  How far do those people and things travel to get to you?

Here’s an short experiment that I encourage everyone to try:  for two days, eat only local food.  Define local for yourself, then go shopping, and try to think about where even the ingredients that make up your food purchases originate, and see how well you can do.

A few of my friends are enrolled in a class where this simple experiment is one of the assignments.  I joined them for breakfast one day, and despite how abundant local food production is in our valley, my friends were getting quite frustrated even putting together a simple breakfast.

Many companies have begun to track their production in terms of environmental costs, and are using this knowledge for marketing purposes (also a topic covered in that business magazine).  The tides are turning in some portion of the world in regards to a deeper understanding of our energy dependence,  but most of the current discussion still circles around energy alternatives versus reducing dependence.  Instead of talking about the need to live closer to the things we need, such as grocery stores and schools and offices, we are focusing our energy on cars that get 100mph.  Although this is also an important step, it is not a well-rounded approach and does not in the end, solve much more than the oil dependence.  What happens when the cost of electricity begins to skyrocket because everyone is plugging in their cars?  The emergence of ethanol has already helped to drive the cost of corn, and therefore general food, up, thus contributing more problems to the crisis than its production is solving.  Despite which prevailing energy source wins this current clamoring to be the next energy source, we still are dependent upon it.  Not enough time and thought is going towards also providing a solution to this portion of the energy crisis.