System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster

This article was an attempt by Szeman to look at how consumerism is both intrinsically linked with oil and most importantly the looming scarcity and disaster that oil presents. He looks at the various discourses being used by the Left to discuss this impending disaster of oil. The three discourse he utilized included strategic realism, techno-utopianism, and apocalyptic environmentalism. In Strategic realism he dialogues about new geopolitical alignments by nation states; in techno-utopianism he looks at technological innovations to counter the decline of oil; and in apocalyptic environmentalism he talks about how we need to change our consumerist attitudes and embrace a more simpler and sustainable way of doing things. The second part of this article looks at arguments made by Retorts in "Blood for oil" to showcase post 9/11 rallying cry for the Left about the contentious debates on oil .

These three discourses are good attempt to remedy this impending oil disaster; nevertheless it acknowledges the shortcomings of these debates on oil and most importantly the politics of it. Oil as a finite resource is portrayed as the ultimate determinant for the sustenance and demise of consumerism and capitalist democracies. This assertion is reflected in his take on strategic realism. In strategic realism, nations are seen as pursuing decisions based on national interest. To add to this strategy, it is fair to say nation governments react to what it electorate wants in order for the ruling government to continue to stay in power. Therefore, in light of this, it is a prudent political strategy to downplay the negative aspects of the impending oil disaster and instead focus on the current benefits that is being derived from the oil economy to satisfy their national demand. For example, when you look at the Obama Administration their energy policy is similar to the erstwhile administration of Bush. The only difference is Obama's support for Offshore drilling. Furthermore, the talk of an impending oil disaster, with the exception of the current oil spill on the coast of Louisiana, is not a major political issue in the U.S. This non-urgent position adopted by this administration is an example of how the end of oil disaster is downplayed strategically in the strategic realism debate.

As well, oil is viewed as a valuable and necessary commodity that has the ability to impact our consumerist lifestyle in order to avoid the impending oil disaster. What this indicates is that it shows how intricately oil is intricately interconnected with our daily lives, as well as it's ability to alter our status quo in our consumerist culture. I believe this position is highlighted in the apocalyptic environmentalism debate and it reflects an image of an advocacy for a getaway to an environmentally friendly lifestyle which eschews oil.

The second part of the article closes with a call to action and a deeply reflective question posed at the end “What is most urgently needed . . . is not short-term technological fixes but a different paradigm of political economy". This question in my view demands critical engagement. It needs critical engagement because there seems to be no clear-cut debates to this oil debate because of the agency-structure debate it evokes in numerous ways as well as the various inherent limitations, as he indicates in the article, this debate poses. Some of the agency-structure debates that can be examined is: how can we forcefully or aggressively approach these three approaches towards the looming oil disaster; how can we explore the relationship between the oil cultural and cultural economy to ease the dependence on oil; and, is it feasible to curtail this impending disaster giving the current political vaccum.