We can harness the wind and turn it into energy for our televisions. We can split atoms and use them to power our cars. And yet still it seems that we don’t have enough power.

The world is running scared these days because we are afraid we are going to run out of oil. Predictions vary, but researchers reckon that this could be within 10 to 40 years – within our lifetime and definitely within our children’s lifetime.

We already know that something is wrong. The world's most powerful country, the USA, recently declared it no longer wanted to be dependent on imports of oil.

And to see the impact that no oil could have take a look at Cuba. The country became a land of farmers overnight when oil supplies were cut in the 1990s, their machinery stopped and people suddenly had nothing to eat. Even city dwellers had to start growing food to survive.

How would you cope? Without oil what would we do for food, transportation, heating, lighting and all our electronic equipment? Thinking of investing in that new high-definition television? Think again.

Medical supplies would be affected, plastics will become expensive, even women’s make-up will be scarce!

It makes you reflect upon what you really need for a good life. Are we so selfish that we need so much stuff to survive? Are we going to keep having “oil-wars” and killing others just to maintain the lifestyle we’ve become accustomed to?

Time to change. We need to think again about what makes life worthwhile. We need to admit that we’ve been greedy. All that power has gone to our heads.

See also: Running out of... Time Hope Excuses

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