Riding Camels

Back in September 2006, I wrote a blog post relating the possibility of peak oil sparking a boom for local craft movements.

In it I mentioned a Saudi quote that goes, "My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son rides in a jet. His son will ride a camel."

That quote has kinda haunted me ever since I first read it.

Then today, in Grist, came this story (sourced from the Financial Times):

"Rising oil prices have many Homo sapiens in a tizzy, but at least one species is celebrating high fuel costs: the camel. Finding it spendy to fuel their tractors, farmers in India are turning to ungulate power. "It's excellent for the camel population if the price of oil continues to go up because demand for camels will also go up," says Ilse Köhler-Rollefson of the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development. That's good news for Indian camels, which have seen their population drop by more than half in the last decade. Camel supporters hope that pushing the animals' usefulness as transportation will get them over the hump to a sustainable population."

It's funny writing, but serious support of that ominous quote.

My point back in Sept. '06 was that as travel and shipping become more and more expensive, we will rely more and more on local producers for the things we want and need. And that's absolutely fine by me. But today it feels like it's coming very very very fast...

That's a real downer, sorry. Here's something hilarious to counter-balance it...

Posted by Amy Shaw for Greenjeans.
Image by Hakanu sourced here.