Hey!

    Xuratu again. I'm still writing up my experiences with biodiesel, and I'll have them up here super-soon, but I thought it might be a good time to talk about something else, too. While our oil situation worsens, a lot of people are discussing how the lack of fuel might affect our daily lives -- transportation, heating, economic standards. Of course there's a lot to worry about that but I think there are others who can talk about that stuff a lot better than I can. When I think about the oil crisis, I keep in mind my own needs, but I have to say, I feel pretty prepared. With this biodiesel, if worst comes to worst, I can offer a fantastic taxi service!

     What really concerns/interests me is how the oil situation will affect politics. People don't seem to understand quite how much that nasty little black stuff affects their country's outgoing politics. An example is this -- there's a large political movement now, based out of Hollywood film stars and nameless charitable experts, for the United States to take a stand again human rights violations in Darfur. Anyone familiar with the situation there knows it's one where there needs to be an international political stand. What's shocking is that while the Darfur situation is a relatively recent one where the international community is still scrambling to act, the number of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia have been significant for a much longer time. Saudi Arabia's most well-known abuse is corporal punishment, which involving lashings administered to criminals, or amputation of limbs. Saudi Arabia is also a place where public executions, including beheading and even stoning, are common. Jews in Saudi Arabia are forbidden to hold visas. Modesty prevents from describes the worst of this regime's violations of human rights, but I'm sure you can find more with only a little bit of research. Now, certainly there's been minimal repercussions, but as a whole, the international community hasn't responded with the same furor with which they've condemned what's happening in Darfur or China.

      You may make of this what you will, but if I told you Saudi Arabia was the number-one exporter of oil in the world, would this start to make more sense? Do you think the world would continue to turn a blind eye? Come April 30th, I'm sure each country will have it's open problems to fix, but once we recover, without a blanket of crude to protect it, we'll see how the situation continues. (After all, we've illustrated we have a President willing to go to war over oil; I don't see why he couldn't go to war regarding the absence of it!)

     So, now, I want to hear your side of it -- what are some other international politics that could be affected after tomorrow?

    Hello!

    I'm xuratu, and I've made this journal to keep in touch with my friends for the next few weeks. See, I heard from some really great folks like gala_teah and mpathytest that a lot of crazy stuff might be happening by the end of this month regarding our oil situation. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a nut for conservation -- I'm the kid who takes a backpack to the grocery store so I don't waste a bag, and the guy who preaches to all of his friends why we can't take the truck out "just to cruise around." But if what I've heard from my new friends is true, conservation won't be enough come April 30th. You can read more about that here.

    So, since I heard about all this, I've been preparing. Another new friend of mine, redhatty, has some great advice for emergency situations that I've been following up on -- and so should you! He was one of those who rode out Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and so I think he knows a bit about survival. Another way I've been following up on the upcoming situation is by learning more about biodiesel. I have a diesel truck, and I was wondering about some ways I could adapt it for biodiesel. Here's a few of the things I learned --

•     Biodiesel is biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.
•     Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be mixed with it. (If you can find any!)
•     Most diesel engines require few or no modifications in order to use biodiesel! (!!!)
•     Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
•     Biodiesel useage has risen from 500,000 gallons sold in 1999 to 75 million gallons sold in 2005.
•     Biodiesel is generated from 100% renewable sources. (You'll never see a worldwithoutsoybeans.org!)
•     Biodiesel is available in most of the United States. There's a list of retailers here.

    It was a lot to take in, but once I did, I made sure to get ahold of the nearest biodiesel pump near me and ask the manager if they had plenty saved up. He also talked to me about costs, and made sure that my truck model could use biodiesel. He also directed me to the National Biodiesel Board's toll-free phone number if I had more questions -- it's (800) 841-5849, in case you were curious about biodiesel yourself. You can also read up about it at this link.

    We live in already scary times. Any Google search for "oil shock" will tell you that the infiniteTSOC over at World Without Oil aren't the first people to be wary of an impending disaster. Learning more about survival, alternative fuels, and environmental issues isn't just a good idea, it's key to keeping you and your loved ones safe. I'm glad I'm able to write this journal for my friends to help keep them (and myself) aware. If you have any comments on biodiesel, alternative fuels, the World Without Oil group, survival, or if you just want to say Hi -- leave me a comment! As for now, I'm off to let the ferret out for a bit. It's a nice day for us to sit on the porch and drink a lemonade!

    -yours, xuratu