On the night of 30 October 1938, millions of Americans leaned close to their radios and felt the bottom drop out of their world. Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast - a fiction performed so convincingly it became a national panic - proved something unsettling: people don’t fear what they know; they fear what they never imagined.
That moment matters now, more than ever, because we are living through a new kind of broadcast.
Not just from a radio tower called MSM, but from political platforms and activist pulpits insisting society can simply “transition away” from oil and coal - painlessly, quickly, without consequence.
It sounds comforting. It sounds noble.
And it is just as fictional as Welles’ Martians. The difference is, this time, when the panic finally hits, no announcer will step forward to say:
“Don’t worry. It isn’t real.”
The Deadly Radio Broadcast in Quito, Ecuador — February 12, 1949
The Quito incident is one of the most tragic examples of a radio drama spilling into real-world chaos - far worse than the mild panic caused by Welles in 1938.
What Happened:
A local station, Radio Quito, aired a Spanish-language adaptation of War of the Worlds, presenting it as breaking news:
“Martians have landed in Latacunga! They’re advancing on Quito!”
Why Panic Exploded:
-
No clear disclaimer that it was a drama.
-
Realistic sound effects: explosions, screaming, military reports.
-
Fake “on-the-scene” reporters describing gas attacks and alien heat rays.
The Result:
-
Terrified listeners fled into the streets.
-
Crowds stormed the station, demanding answers.
-
When the truth emerged - it was just a play - rage erupted.
-
A mob set the building on fire, killing at least 6 people (some reports say up to 20), including the station director, actors, and staff.
-
Over 100 people were injured.
It certainly bears thinking about.........
The Real Panic: The One Without a Microphone
In 1938, panic could be calmed with a single announcement:
“Ladies and gentlemen… it was not real.”
In Quito, it was already too late.
Today, the panic would not come with sirens, sound effects, or a broadcast disclaimer. It would come silently, invisibly - the slow collapse of systems most of us take for granted.
Yesterday, we explored how oil and coal built the world. Today, we explore what happens when the pillars are removed - not in a century, not after “a smooth transition,” but in three days. Three days is all it would take for modern life to reveal how utterly dependent it is on the fuels many insist we can discard with a slogan or subsidy.
This is not melodrama. This is not panic theatre. This is the uncomfortable arithmetic of modern civilisation.
Day 1: The Flick
It begins quietly.
6 a.m. You wake without an alarm. Not because you slept peacefully, but because your phone is dead - the grid failed overnight. The fridge groans once before falling silent. Milk warms. Food goes off. The hum you never noticed is gone, and suddenly, you realise how much of your life depends on machines you never think about.
Across the world, cities shudder. Coal-fired power ceases instantly. Regions reliant on oil generation go dark as well. Trains, trams, even elevators stand still. A civilisation built on motion suddenly cannot move.
Day 2: The Queue
The next morning, there are no alarms - only queues. Long, snaking, desperate human lines. Petrol stations are empty. Police vehicles sit powerless. Supermarkets are in panic mode. Delivery trucks don’t run. Aviation fuel is gone; planes remain grounded. Shipping halts. Supply chains, the invisible miracle that brings food from hemisphere to plate, collapse.
A world without transport is a world without food.
Day 3: The Silence
Hospitals cling to life on dying generators. Ambulances cannot move. The internet fails. Factories fall silent. Ports freeze. Steel mills cool. Cement kilns extinguish. The global economy, built on constant movement and heat, becomes a museum display overnight. Civilisation recedes - not dramatically, not explosively, but with the quiet, terrible certainty of a tide going out.
This three-day scenario is not presented for shock value. It is presented to make one truth unavoidable: our modern world is not merely powered by oil and coal - it is shaped, sustained, manufactured, delivered, preserved, and protected by them.
The Hidden Truth: Oil Is In Everything
Most industrial activities would grind to a halt within days, if not hours. Heavy industries - steel production, cement manufacturing, chemical processing - rely heavily on these energy sources.
- Steel: The industry relies on coal in the form of coke to fuel blast furnaces. Without it, steel production would stop.
- Cement: Another heavy industry dependent on coal. Without cement, construction projects worldwide would be halted.
- Petrochemicals: Oil is a vital raw material for plastics, fertilisers, and synthetic fibres - shortages of everyday items like packaging, textiles, and medical supplies.
The Greenie Myth: “Wind & Solar Will Save Us”
The Hidden Truth: Oil Is In Everything. Let’s get real. Oil isn’t just fuel. It’s life.Think about this:
- Petroleum jelly - the cream you rub on your baby’s bottom? Gone.
- Nylon - your socks, your stockings, your parachute? Gone.
- Liferafts - the rubber dinghy that saves lives at sea? Gone.
- Placards - the plastic banners waved by greenies shouting “No Oil!”? Gone.
Aspirin. Detergents. Paints. Cosmetics. Heart valves. Prosthetics.All made from oil. No oil? Modern medicine collapses. No syringes. No IV bags. No sterile packaging.
Are we not already seeing the signs? For you climate change zealots out there - are you prepared for this? And before you get all smarty greenie pants on me, saying that wind and solar are the answer - both oil and coal play critical roles in the production, transportation, and installation of these renewable energy technologies.
- Wind turbine towers: Made primarily of steel, produced using coal in the form of coke to fuel blast furnaces. (Emerging tech? Not at scale.)
- Blades: Composites that include plastics or synthetic materials derived from oil.
- Solar panels: Require high-purity silicon, refined at extreme temperatures using fossil fuel energy - and plastic components for encapsulation.
- Copper & rare earths: Mining these is energy-intensive, powered by oil and coal.
- Global supply chains: Oil-powered ships, planes, and trucks move materials from China to Europe to the U.S.
- Installation: Heavy machinery - cranes, ships, diesel trucks - all rely on oil.
Remove oil, and modern medicine collapses silently, invisibly, fatally. This is chemistry, not ideology.
Vanity Without Oil: A Forgotten Cost
Even the small rituals of civilisation - toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, deodorants, shampoos, moisturisers - all rely on oil. Clothes? Polyester, nylon, rayon, spandex, fleece. Even cotton falters when tractors and fertilisers fail. Without oil, vanity doesn’t vanish. Civilisation does.
The icons of the green movement are built on petrochemistry. Greta Thunberg’s “zero-emission” yacht? Entirely dependent on fiberglass hulls, synthetic sails, nylon ropes, polyester gear, packaged food, waterproof clothing. Without petrochemicals, she wouldn’t leave port. This is not an attack - it is a reminder of how deeply our modern environmental movement relies on the very substances it condemns.
The Real Warning
The purpose of this article is not to provoke fear, but clarity. A transition may one day come. But transitions take decades, even centuries - not election cycles.
We cannot build the new world without the old one. And if we pretend otherwise, the panic will be real, the consequences will be real, and no broadcaster will step forward to say:
BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS“Ladies and gentlemen… please don’t panic. None of this was real.”
Because this time, it is real.
Ask yourself:
If oil vanished tomorrow - would you survive three days?
