The Oil Drum

This is a guest post by Jason Bradford who has written here previously on "Relocalization: A Strategic Response to Peak Oil and Climate Change" and "Does Less Energy Mean More Farmers?". Jason has a PhD in Biology, is the founder of Willits Economic Localization (WELL) and runs a CSA in Willits, CA.

As a fan of Bruce Springsteen, I am keenly aware of the American fetish with the automobile, and travel in general. Check out these opening lines from the 1975 Springsteen classic “Born to Run.”

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
And steppin’ out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

The car does more than get you between home and work. It represents freedom, sex, power, fun, status, and if need be a way to fly away from your troubles, at least temporarily. What then, does the following graphic (updated through April) from the U.S. Department of Transportation portend for “the runaway American dream?” Has the U.S. passed Peak Travel?

Back when we started writing on this site, I mentioned that it was the time to take vacations that would likely soon become too expensive. In keeping with that, this summer we are taking, what will probably be our last holiday where we drive, in part, just to see the countryside. And so, on Friday, this brought us to the Arts and Crafts Show in Frankfort, KY. It was some 93 degrees, and thus attendance was a bit sparse, but I suspect that there are more reasons than that for the reducing popularity that these shows face, both from vendors and customers, and that their viability will slowly fade in the face of high oil prices. (clicking map will take it to full size...)