THAILAND
NIDHI EOSEEWONG
"Cars have disappeared from Bangkok streets for months," a taxi driver told me. At the moment, unless something special is going on, the condition known as the notorious Bangkok traffic gridlock no longer happens, he said.
Even without the cab driver's confirmation, ordinary people can see for themselves that city traffic has become much lighter. Most people no longer have to prepare up to an hour's lead-time before an appointment in another part of town.
I can't tell if the air or noise pollution in Bangkok has lessened accordingly. I do not know, either, if more people are walking instead of driving to a destination that is not too far. And I can't measure if more people are leaving their cars at home and taking the mass transit or public bus.
What I believe, however, is that the disappearance of private cars from Bangkok streets should result in many good things other than lighter traffic. And these "good things" should be considered opportunities that arise from the crisis of the unending oil price hike.
I heard the first good thing from a research project by local villagers in the three southernmost provinces. These researchers reported that the previously deteriorating coastal resources in Pattani and Narathiwat have recovered rapidly this year. They believe there are two causes. First, large-scale trawlers have had to stop their ruinous practice because diesel is too expensive. As the sea floor is not raked to rubble, it has begun to regenerate. More marine life is thus reproduced.
Second, the artificial coral project - using old train bogies - under Her Majesty the Queen has given good breeding grounds for marine life. Some of the fish that had disappeared have returned to the coast recently, including mackerel and butterfish.
Once the coastal ecology becomes fertile again, fisherfolk can afford to turn back to traditional technology which is friendlier to the sea. More will follow suit as it requires low investment while giving comparable yields.
Traditional fishing techniques have thus become popular once again. And it is indeed a good opportunity that could only have happened because of the oil crisis.
The same is true with the development of alternative fuels such as ethanol and bio-diesel. Without oil prices being as high as they are, the production and use of ethanol would not have made business sense. But because of skyrocketing oil prices, ethanol has become a viable alternative fuel in many countries.
The pressure from oil prices has also pushed human beings to exercise their brains more in coming up with other, non-oil sources of fuel. Hydrogen-fuelled cars, whose exhaust is in the form of water, could be available in Japan or the United States within a year or two. This is happening while car companies are investing in the development of hybrid vehicles, too.
Thai industries use more energy per unit of production than those in other countries. The oil crunch should present them with an opportunity to be more energy-efficient. With oil this expensive, the oft-cited green mantra of "re-use and recycle" may have a chance to become true.
I do not intend to be sarcastic in the face of hardship and scarcity. I really mean it when I say that the current energy crisis presents us with many opportunities to change or do things differently.
The world is moving towards a new energy source. The time of solar energy as preserved in fossils such as coal, oil, gas, fodder (or solar energy from the past) is almost over. Coming in its place is the age of present-day solar energy - sunlight, wind, tide, waves or animal manure.
If we keep on trying to cope with the change in energy sources with the old way of thinking, then the transition will remain a crisis. But if we start to think outside the traditional framework, we may see plenty of opportunities to build on a brighter future.
It is a pity that this change in energy sources should happen during a time when Thai society is exceptionally weak. I am not singling out politics for that matter. Our capital groups have been weakened. So have our social groups and networks.
In this light, while I can see a lot of opportunities in this crushing crisis, I have the ominous hunch that we in Thailand may not be able to grasp them after all.
Professor Nidhi Eoseewong is a historian who started the alternative educational forum, the Midnight University.
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