James Howard Kunstler

James Howard Kunstler begins his essay by quoting a well-known author and columnist, Thomas Friedman, who states that globalisation is a wonderful fixture of society, and that it is here to stay. Globalisation refers to an increased openness of national borders to the movement of trade, products, and money in the past forty years or so. Kunstler however, is strongly opposed to this point, and believes that globalisations will soon be a thing of the past. He believes that this state of Globalisation is centered on relative world peace and an abundance of reliable and cheap energy, and if one of those were taken away, globalisation would crumble. The author goes on to say how the people in power do not see this coming, even though it is clearly inevitable. He goes back through many different parts of history to show how
As Kunstler noted, China faces the shared crisis and they too will become as desperate to keeping their country afloat as anyone else. Considering that they have the largest population in the world, they would indeed have a large thirst for the substance, and they have been known to be ruthless for much less, such as in the slaughtering of the Tibetan people.
Kunstler mentions that this world-view and its oversized hunger for resources, has jeopardized his criteria. That we are burning our resources faster than any society has come before us and the race for what is left will cause a path to war. It is within this distribution of resources that indicates serious, business ethic issues. Considering globalization thrives on linear ideas, not reliable ones, oil will continue to be a form of scarcity that will ultimately guarantee worldwide conflict. Per Kunstler’s criteria, this business attitude is what will end globalization, cheap energy; and consequently, global