(no subject)
Peer-edited for Jill
Recently, I was given the task of ascertaining the change in petroleum usage from decades past to today. In order to accomplish this goal, I turned to the most readily accessible, accurate, and descriptive source of information at my disposal - I interviewed my dad. To begin, he was born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, in 1955. At that time, Farmington Hills was very rural and more sparsely populated than the Farmington Hills I know today. My dad walked to school every day through the woods, and he said there used to be a huge oak tree where a major intersection now lies. There is obviously a big difference between the appearance of Farmington Hills then and now, but what about fuel?
During my dad's childhood, fuel was delivered directly to his house, for his family’s use in both heating and lighting. He told me that the heating then was far inferior to heating nowadays, and that he could not imagine having to go back to the old ways. He explained that our house is much warmer than his ever was, and that when he was a child, a fire could often be seen blazing in the fireplace with the heating system supplementing it, and that was just to be comfortable.
Public and private transportation appears to have undergone little change between the two time periods. Cars were less prevalent, but some people still had them. There were buses for public transportation, and just like modern buses, they ran on diesel fuel. However, he did say it was much more common for people to walk to their destinations back then. But nowadays people enjoy the leisure of their own vehicle.
My dad's mother used a gas stove to prepare their meals. He said that was pretty much the norm for everyone he knew. Gas stoves were standard. Any food they purchased was packaged in paper. Milk was delivered regularly in glass bottles. As far as he knows, that's the way it was for everyone.
Most every morning, my father would begin his day by walking to school through the woods. Most of these woods still stand to this day. In the past, my grandpa and I have strolled through them so I could see what my dad used to do every day. There is a really clear path beaten down by all of the people who used to walk that same way to school. My dad says that most people walked, and very few got rides to school from a car or bus. After school, my dad and his sister would listen to the radio. That was the main form of entertainment for my dad and his family.
I don't really think a return to the good old days would be desirable. Simpler, to be sure, but I've become rather accustomed to the way we live now. Though there would be much less concern about using up the petroleum reserves, since it's obvious they didn't use quite as much petroleum when my dad was a kid. Most of our food comes packaged in plastic rather than paper, and that alone is a significant sanitary difference. And this is only a comparison to 50 years ago; I'm sure going back another 20 years would make an even larger difference. While going reverting to the customs of those days would put less of a strain on our petroleum, I don't know if that would really be necessary. I think most people would rather enjoy the luxuries we have today than go back to how it used to be.
When we eventually do use up our current energy resources, I don't think we would have to return to that sort of a lifestyle even then. We've still got a fair amount of petroleum and other fossil fuels left, and people are working every day to come up with alternative energy sources. They are probably making enough progress for us to manage for a while. Though the possibility exists that we would have to temporarily revert back to the old ways, I don't expect society would stand for that lifestyle for very long. It would just serve as extra incentive to find a new source of energy.
Recently, I was given the task of ascertaining the change in petroleum usage from decades past to today. In order to accomplish this goal, I turned to the most readily accessible, accurate, and descriptive source of information at my disposal - I interviewed my dad. To begin, he was born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, in 1955. At that time, Farmington Hills was very rural and more sparsely populated than the Farmington Hills I know today. My dad walked to school every day through the woods, and he said there used to be a huge oak tree where a major intersection now lies. There is obviously a big difference between the appearance of Farmington Hills then and now, but what about fuel?
During my dad's childhood, fuel was delivered directly to his house, for his family’s use in both heating and lighting. He told me that the heating then was far inferior to heating nowadays, and that he could not imagine having to go back to the old ways. He explained that our house is much warmer than his ever was, and that when he was a child, a fire could often be seen blazing in the fireplace with the heating system supplementing it, and that was just to be comfortable.
Public and private transportation appears to have undergone little change between the two time periods. Cars were less prevalent, but some people still had them. There were buses for public transportation, and just like modern buses, they ran on diesel fuel. However, he did say it was much more common for people to walk to their destinations back then. But nowadays people enjoy the leisure of their own vehicle.
My dad's mother used a gas stove to prepare their meals. He said that was pretty much the norm for everyone he knew. Gas stoves were standard. Any food they purchased was packaged in paper. Milk was delivered regularly in glass bottles. As far as he knows, that's the way it was for everyone.
Most every morning, my father would begin his day by walking to school through the woods. Most of these woods still stand to this day. In the past, my grandpa and I have strolled through them so I could see what my dad used to do every day. There is a really clear path beaten down by all of the people who used to walk that same way to school. My dad says that most people walked, and very few got rides to school from a car or bus. After school, my dad and his sister would listen to the radio. That was the main form of entertainment for my dad and his family.
I don't really think a return to the good old days would be desirable. Simpler, to be sure, but I've become rather accustomed to the way we live now. Though there would be much less concern about using up the petroleum reserves, since it's obvious they didn't use quite as much petroleum when my dad was a kid. Most of our food comes packaged in plastic rather than paper, and that alone is a significant sanitary difference. And this is only a comparison to 50 years ago; I'm sure going back another 20 years would make an even larger difference. While going reverting to the customs of those days would put less of a strain on our petroleum, I don't know if that would really be necessary. I think most people would rather enjoy the luxuries we have today than go back to how it used to be.
When we eventually do use up our current energy resources, I don't think we would have to return to that sort of a lifestyle even then. We've still got a fair amount of petroleum and other fossil fuels left, and people are working every day to come up with alternative energy sources. They are probably making enough progress for us to manage for a while. Though the possibility exists that we would have to temporarily revert back to the old ways, I don't expect society would stand for that lifestyle for very long. It would just serve as extra incentive to find a new source of energy.