People that Have a Clue about Peak Oil

[valuesystem]

There are quite a few people that have a clue, but there are so many others that don't, it is sometimes hard to know to whom to listen. I've been noticing this more and more recently, particularly due to the huge deluge of chatter that goes on in newspapers, radio, television, and especially, on the Internet

Comments

[theal8r]

I was watching something and Jim Cramer, an economic commentator on MSNBC (Mad Money, I think, is his show) and he said that oil is way underpriced but then went on to say the way to solve (or ease) the crisis is to drill in the wildlife preserve.

He lost a lot of credibility with me right then.

[valuesystem]

Yep, I know what you mean

[theal8r]

That is a fundamental flaw in our system -- people who want power for the sake of power -- which is fueled (no pun) by the society's lack of education.

The problem here is that we are so dependant on oil that we can't really get beyond the idea that we NEED oil. We need to find other ways of providing fuel.

Of course, I say this in the wake of driving 2 hours to go to the beach, driving another 2 hours to take the kids and their grandma to the airport so they can fly to Michigan...

[valuesystem]

Yes, the education part is critical. Didn't one of the founders talk about that, how an educated electorate was critical for a well functioning democracy?

Actually, there is not more fuel to be found, not in the quantities that we would like to use it. Instead, it is going to be about crash conservation and curtailment, so we all reduce our dependance on oil by fifty, seventy, or even ninty percent. What that really means is imagining that our take-home income was reduced by that same percent, and then figuring out how to live on that.

Yes, I was thinking about my burning of fuel yesterday as well. A short jaunt to see Indiana IV and I burned up two gallons of gasoline, and created about $20 in economic spending/activity. But, as I've mentioned many times before, if the money wasn't spent on this, it would have been spent on something else. Which is to say that we can not do anything to stop peak oil or climate change, although we can certainly prepare in our own lives for both.

of that list I suggest The Oil Drum

[anonymous]

I have to say that of the peak oil sites you mentioned, it seems to me that The Oil Drum has the most to offer. TOD does a lot of wonderful empirical research, their community/comment threads are worth reading--and from what I can see of their traffic numbers, they're doing really well compared to EB and ASPO, etc.

Education about all of this has to come from somewhere...and you're right, we need a lot more people than we currently have "with a clue." :)

Re: of that list I suggest The Oil Drum

[valuesystem]

I like "The Oil Drum", but it is focused on a particular audience, in particular, college grads that know a lot of math. It does not appeal to the general public, and it is not well organized, being chronological in nature. My interest is in educating the masses, and "The Oil Drum" is not the site to do it, unfortunetly.

Re: of that list I suggest The Oil Drum

[anonymous]

I rather disagree. Would you say that the article up on top today: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4125 is focused on a "particular audience"? I think not.

Peak oil/energy is a complex topic that requires more critical thinking than laziness on the part of the public. I realize this is asking a lot of a public that barely knows who its president is or how gasoline is produced, but the problems we face are difficult.

It seems to me that The Oil Drum is focused on teaching people who are willing to learn...so, if TOD is too much for those willing to let Darwin do the work for them, then so be it.

But then again, perhaps I have drank the TOD kool-aid too. We need people "in the know" working together in a coordinated fashion...don't we?

Re: of that list I suggest The Oil Drum

[valuesystem]

Yes, this looks like a nice article, but it will be hidden amongst a ton of other articles in short order.

Something "The Oil Drum" could do would be to create a seperate web site, very clean, very simple, for the normal busy person, to get them up to speed on what is going on, with a very small selection of the best articles, that had all been edited down to managable size.

Peak oil is not really all that complex. The price of energy is going up, it will keep going up, and this will cause a massive shift in our economy, namely, high inflation, high unemployment, and a shift back to much more local living.

There are lots of other ways to boil it down, such as focusing on per capita energy, and on net oil exports (which are on the decline) and etc.

Don't get me wrong, I think "The Oil Drum" is a good idea, and I'm glad it exists, it is just not the most user friendly portal to the concept of peak oil.