Greed, hatred, warfare and the race for fossil fuels

By Wang Yong  |   2008-12-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

NEITHER an optimistic nor a pessimistic prophet on energy, the author of "A Thousand Barrels a Second" states a simple fact: "civilization" makes us silly and greedy.

Although Peter Tertzakian does not mean it, his vivid historical account of mankind's thirst for energy to pump up "civilization" lets the cat out of the bag: Modern history proves mankind's insatiable thirst for energy just to live better and, sometimes, to wage wars.

Getabstract.com (the world's leading distributor of the abstract versions of best sellers and other popular books) has this to say:

"So many books lately have touted the looming energy crisis that a new book on the topic bears a fairly heavy burden. It must demonstrate a firm grasp of prior scholarship, yet be innovative enough to serve a distinct purpose amid similar tomes. In this regard, author Peter Tertzakian achieves the first objective nicely and comes close on the second."

The author indeed has not come up with any innovative solution to the current oil shortage. We've heard them all. There is no simple fix.

People in our age cannot snap their fingers and agree on a single solution to recurrent oil crises. At the very least, the existence of nation states and their need for self-defense will drown any environmentalist's heartfelt call to a farewell to arms.

If mankind knew not sword and fire, human consumption of fossil oil would have been greatly reduced, and human consumption of any other new energy source for the making and breaking of swords would be unnecessary.

The real value of this book, a best seller in 2006, lies in its recounting of a part of human history filled with greed at the cost of Mother Nature, a recount that exposes the ugly facade of so-called human progress.

"Much of this book is devoted to understanding the factors that are leading us to the break point," says the author himself. "The history of energy shows that ... (energy) crisis is always followed by a defining break point, after which government policies, and social and technological forces begin to rebalance the structure of the world's vast energy complex."

By recounting many such break points, the author reveals how mankind, driven by a never-to-be satisfied appetite, has left no stone unturned for fossil oil just to travel faster, eat better and kill each other more efficiently.

The author's story about a spermacetic rush in the 18th century is a case in point. In 1751, American candle makers in Newport, Rhode Island state, invented a superior candle using spermaceti, a waxy substance inside sperm whales' heads. That created a "spermaceti rush." Because sperm whales were difficult to catch, New England's eight primary candle makers competed, bidding up the price of each available sperm whale carcass.

Few considered the fate of sperm whales, few asked why people needed superior candles, and people didn't know how to store light energy from the sun or save power from the wind.

Peter Tertzakian is right to say that the 18th-century conflicts between producers and consumers presaged the difficulties among governments, consumers and oil producers today. He doesn't condemn the human desire to get fat at the expense of nature, he only tells the truth.

This human desire didn't stop at sperm whales, it roared ahead into wars.

According to Tertzakian, the British Royal Navy needed power in 1897, when its rival Germany began to build its fleet. John Fisher, who was in charge of the navy, believed it faced a break point -- to prepare for war, England's navy should convert its fleet from coal to oil.

In 1911, Winston Churchill accepted the title First Lord of the Admiralty and took charge of the Royal Navy. He favored petroleum. "The use of oil made it possible in every type of vessel to have more gunpowder and more speed for less size or cost," Churchill decided, signing off on the navy's expensive, risky transition to oil-powered ships.

Tertzakian told us that, by the end of World War II, almost half of the ships in the Royal Navy ran on oil, not coal.

The more I read these examples of human desire to live better, to conquer others, and for self-defense, the sadder I feel about our human race.

This book is commendable because it sets us thinking, seriously, what it means to be the dominant animal on the planet, who we really are. As long as this remains a puzzle to most of us, any new energy source will be meaningless -- the battles will still rage.

David Goodstein says: "Until only 200 years ago -- the blink of an eye on the scale of or history -- the human race was able to live almost entirely on light as it arrived from the sun."

David Goodstein is a professor in the California Institute of Technology's physics department. He made this comment in his 2005 book, "Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil."

Indeed, Churchill's swift change from coal to oil might be crucial in saving the Britain navy, but almost 100 years have passed since 1911 and we human beings still cannot take full advantage of solar and wind energy.

Mankind since "civilization" is not just greedy, but stupid as well.

And even if mankind becomes self-sufficient in renewable energy on some distant day, people will probably not be content. Greed and hatred are probably here to stay.

Mankind should search for a break point in the way people think and behave, rather than just a break point that gives us a new energy source. That would be value in the book beyond the author's expectation.