Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner
I am Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner.
No, this isn't me giving myself a title, it is what a friend once called me after hearing that I was thinking about installing a propane fueled generator for backup electricity, rather than installing solar PV panels or a wind turbine.
Well, let's try this hat out: Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner. Hmm... Sometimes I feel that way, but I don't imagine for a second that I'm the only one called Mr. or Ms. Peak Oil.
I will admit, the past week or so has made me feel like the title did apply, at least for a time. Let me summarize... or perhaps just sum it up...
A reporter from Wall Street Journal decides to interview me about peak oil, and flies out from Washington D.C. for a weekend long visit. While he is here, I host a peak oil and sustainability film screening of "What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire" which attracts a standing room only crowd. After the film, I play the role of interviewer and make a 45-minute peak oil chat video with three clever peak oil aware guys. The next day, we talk peak oil with the reporter, then an interview on camera, then a practice of the "Energy and Climate Uncertainty Task Force" presentation that a friend and I are preparing for the local municipality. The next day, introducing the concept of peak oil to a classroom of 8th grade young teens. That evening, writing up a story of the film event for the local paper. Dozens of emails to dozens of peak oil aware folks. Editing the peak oil chat and publishing to YouTube... AHH!!!!
Ok, okay, OKAY! MAYBE, just maybe, he was right... I certain was feeling like Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner for a while there... except I think at one moment at least, my given name almost vanished into the background... Just Mr. Peak Oil. Yep, that was me... at least for a while.
But Mr. Peak Oil or Ms. Peak Oil is a hat that many have and will wear... and there are some that wear that hat day in and day out... in my mind at least. Mr. Peak Oil Richard Heinberg, Mr. Peak Oil Matthew Simmons, Mr. Peak Oil Colin Campbell, Mr. Peak Oil Roscoe Bartlett... the list could go on... and on... and on... Who is today's M. Peak Oil?
Perhaps M. Peak Oil should be a daily award. It could be given to the one among us who can't seem to think or say anything outside of the the peak oil realm, at least for that day. It could be a contest, like the Sexiest Person of the Year, but it would be the M. Peak Oil of the Day!
We could have a pagent, oh sorry, a scholarship competition with Mr. Peak Oil Michigan, and Ms. Peak Oil Florida, and Mr. Peak Oil Texas... Perhaps we could sponsor a stadium or have a TV series... ugh... I think I've wandered off track here...
The problem with M. Peak Oil label is that, for the most part, all of us M. Peak Oil's are much more than just about peak oil. I'm also Mr. Climate Change, Mr. Overpopulation, Mr. Biodiversity Loss, Mr. Localization, Mr. Sustainability... Mr. Husband, Mr. Daddy, Mr. Teacher... all these hats will fit, at least to one degree or another, at one time or another.
Truth be told, whether M. Peak Oil is a title, or a label, or something else; peak oil is not the root problem. Peak oil is a symptom, like a runny nose, or a nasty rash, or a feeling of fatigue. The underlying problem is what we must uncover, study, and understand. We need to do all this so we can find the solution to this root problem before it is too late.
* How did we become this culture of destroyers?
* How could our culture fail to foresee inevitability and consequences of oil decline?
* How did we lose sight of our oneness with Earth?
* What can we do to help our culture to change?
Being Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner makes studying these deeper questions into a major challenge. Like studying the runny nose in the mirror for hours on end, no amount of study of peak oil is going to ever give us relief from the root problem: we are the culture of unsustainability.
No, this isn't me giving myself a title, it is what a friend once called me after hearing that I was thinking about installing a propane fueled generator for backup electricity, rather than installing solar PV panels or a wind turbine.
Well, let's try this hat out: Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner. Hmm... Sometimes I feel that way, but I don't imagine for a second that I'm the only one called Mr. or Ms. Peak Oil.
I will admit, the past week or so has made me feel like the title did apply, at least for a time. Let me summarize... or perhaps just sum it up...
A reporter from Wall Street Journal decides to interview me about peak oil, and flies out from Washington D.C. for a weekend long visit. While he is here, I host a peak oil and sustainability film screening of "What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire" which attracts a standing room only crowd. After the film, I play the role of interviewer and make a 45-minute peak oil chat video with three clever peak oil aware guys. The next day, we talk peak oil with the reporter, then an interview on camera, then a practice of the "Energy and Climate Uncertainty Task Force" presentation that a friend and I are preparing for the local municipality. The next day, introducing the concept of peak oil to a classroom of 8th grade young teens. That evening, writing up a story of the film event for the local paper. Dozens of emails to dozens of peak oil aware folks. Editing the peak oil chat and publishing to YouTube... AHH!!!!
Ok, okay, OKAY! MAYBE, just maybe, he was right... I certain was feeling like Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner for a while there... except I think at one moment at least, my given name almost vanished into the background... Just Mr. Peak Oil. Yep, that was me... at least for a while.
But Mr. Peak Oil or Ms. Peak Oil is a hat that many have and will wear... and there are some that wear that hat day in and day out... in my mind at least. Mr. Peak Oil Richard Heinberg, Mr. Peak Oil Matthew Simmons, Mr. Peak Oil Colin Campbell, Mr. Peak Oil Roscoe Bartlett... the list could go on... and on... and on... Who is today's M. Peak Oil?
Perhaps M. Peak Oil should be a daily award. It could be given to the one among us who can't seem to think or say anything outside of the the peak oil realm, at least for that day. It could be a contest, like the Sexiest Person of the Year, but it would be the M. Peak Oil of the Day!
We could have a pagent, oh sorry, a scholarship competition with Mr. Peak Oil Michigan, and Ms. Peak Oil Florida, and Mr. Peak Oil Texas... Perhaps we could sponsor a stadium or have a TV series... ugh... I think I've wandered off track here...
The problem with M. Peak Oil label is that, for the most part, all of us M. Peak Oil's are much more than just about peak oil. I'm also Mr. Climate Change, Mr. Overpopulation, Mr. Biodiversity Loss, Mr. Localization, Mr. Sustainability... Mr. Husband, Mr. Daddy, Mr. Teacher... all these hats will fit, at least to one degree or another, at one time or another.
Truth be told, whether M. Peak Oil is a title, or a label, or something else; peak oil is not the root problem. Peak oil is a symptom, like a runny nose, or a nasty rash, or a feeling of fatigue. The underlying problem is what we must uncover, study, and understand. We need to do all this so we can find the solution to this root problem before it is too late.
* How did we become this culture of destroyers?
* How could our culture fail to foresee inevitability and consequences of oil decline?
* How did we lose sight of our oneness with Earth?
* What can we do to help our culture to change?
Being Mr. Peak Oil Aaron Wissner makes studying these deeper questions into a major challenge. Like studying the runny nose in the mirror for hours on end, no amount of study of peak oil is going to ever give us relief from the root problem: we are the culture of unsustainability.