squeaky wheel productions

Michael T. Klare, in a scene from Blood and Oil.

Michael T. Klare

Screening of documentary Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Dependence on Foreign Petroleum, followed by a talk, "Oil, War and the Future of American Foreign Policy." Sept. 27, 3 p.m., 55 Audubon St., New Haven. Suggested donation $15. squeakywheel.net

National security and energy expert Michael T. Klare's doomsday visions of a world that doesn't quickly go through oil detox should be enough to scare you into biking or taking the bus to his lecture this Saturday. We spoke to him by phone about his upcoming visit, part of Green Jobs Now: National Day of Action.

New Haven Advocate: What can people expect from your talk on Saturday?

Klare: First I want people to see the movie Blood and Oil, which shows the historic path that lead to our dependency on oil in general and specifically to foreign oil and how our dependency on foreign oil has been militarized, leading to numerous wars over oil, especially the war in Iraq.

After the movie I'll talk about the present and the future. If we continue on the path we're already on we'll become more deeply involved in wars over energy.

What do you make of the efforts to push for off-shore drilling?

Let's begin with the fact that the U.S. only has 3 or 4 percent of world's remaining oil reserves. There's no way it will make a huge dent in America's oil craving. It could only provide a small percent of our oil requirements. At most it will reduce the price by a penny or two and that will be when the price of gas is closer to $10 [a gallon].

When will gas hit $10?

It's only a matter of time because the world is running out of oil and the demand for oil is rising at a very rapid pace because of the growth of China.

What do you think of Barack Obama's and John McCain's energy policies?

Neither is adequate because neither of them addresses the fact that we need a radical change in our energy behavior both to deal with the fact that we're reaching the end of the petroleum age and we're facing the catastrophic heating of the planet.

That said, Barack Obama will do a lot more than John McCain will do, so I favor Obama over McCain for that reason.

What can concerned individuals do?

At the household or family level, we can escape some energy use, like making our houses more energy efficient and avoiding wasteful travel.

At the community and neighborhood level we can build bike lanes and install solar panels in schools to make our neighborhoods more energy efficient.

In your new book [Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet] you argue that access to energy is now more important than military might. When and how did that shift happen?

It certainly has happened since the end of the Cold War. During the Cold War military might was the decisive factor. Since the end of Cold War it's become clear that access to energy is the decisive factor in ranking the power of nations and that's gaining momentum.

Do you foresee future wars over energy resources?

The war in the Caucuses in August, which I predict in my [new] book, was a war over energy. Not specifically over the overt energy but over control of pipelines for the transportation of energy.

This was a struggle between Russia and the U.S. over the flow of energy — oil and gas specifically from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The U.S. wants to use Georgia as an alternative route bypassing Russia for oil and gas delivery. And Russia wants Europe to remain dependent on Russia.

byagla@newhavenadvocate.com