Life After Teh Oil Crash

[Will]

In 1950 we were going to run out of oil in 1970, and in 1970 we were going to run out of oil in 1978, and in 1978 we were going to run out of oil by 1990.

The Internet was going to be crippled in the year 2000.

We have nearly been killed by meteorites, what, a thousand times, since we figured out how to see meteorites.

You guys don't really believe this bullshit, right?

In the 1950's I was your daddy.

[Tones]

We should just use the molten magma from middle earth as a fuel source.

[voltz]

We should just use the molten magma from middle earth as a fuel source.

We used it all when we started building railroads. What century are you living in?

[g0zen]

You guys don't really believe this bullshit, right?

Hubbert's Peak isn't a conspiracy theory it's cold hard science. If you think there is an endless supply of fossil fuels, then you're the one whose living in a fantasy world. The knowledge that we'd eventually run out of oil, coal, etc. has been accepted for decades, it's just no one wants to do anything about it.

Maybe it isn't as dire or imminent, that doesn't mean it's something we should just ignore. The fact that it isn't happened yet is great, but what it good is it if we squander the time and resources we have left without a thought to the future? Someday we WILL run out of oil, that's just a fact, and if everyone takes the position you take Stone, apathetic denial, then it will most certainly catch us by surprise and the apocalyptic vision provided by the website may come true. Who will have to suffer through the horrors? Us, maybe, but certainly our children and definitely our grandchildren.

I think we owe them more than that.

In closing, stop being lazy assholes, people. Stop buying SUVs when you never EVER go off-road and drive like ten minutes to work and back. If I see you driving your fucking all-terrain vehicle down your driveway just because you don't want to put on shoes and a pair of pants to get your mail, I'm going to skullfuck you with a rusty railroad spike. Peace out.

Also, I don't know where you heard they were saying we'd run out of oil in the 70s, I've never seen an interpretation of Hubbert's Peak that predicted anything lower than 2005.

[Stone]

Gozen, may I buy a fast car with a V8 that gets gas mileage similar to many SUVs? What car may I have before I can avoid threats of skull-fucking?

I hate these anti-SUV assholes, and it has nothing to do with what I think of SUVs (they suck for driving - I'd buy a Land Rover if I bought a farm). People like you make me want to buy an H2 out of spite, coat the entire thing in chrome, and run over baby seals with it. I'd roam the streets looking for Prius owners to blind with double-strength Xenon highbeams

You ever hear about an economist named Malthus? He predicted that the world's population was going to grow so uncontrollably that the world was going to effectively run out of food, causing massive famine. Sounds similar to this website, right? Yeah, except Malthus is about 240 years old - and what he predicted hasn't come true yet.

Fewer people are starving now than ever before. We are discovering more new natural energy-producing resouces than ever before, at a faster rate. Oil prospecting costs money, and it's going to become harder in the future - ie more expensive, but it's not going to become anything near impossible.

By the time oil production is no longer cost effective, energy companies will have figured out another way to make money giving us energy - because that's their job.

I think it's great that you people are concerned about something, but don't be concerned about this - there are other worse things to worry about, things far more worthy of your interest.

[Rumpy]

Stones got a point. If you think energy companies are going to just sit there and wait for their lively hoods to run out you're wrong. Think about all the shit that's going to need to be converted to the next power source. Jobs in researching it, making it, installing it and charging every mother fucker on the planet to use it.

And ya don't like SUV's? When it snows, I know I can drive down my driveway to get my mail, no fucking problem.

[g0zen]

I certainly can't stop you from driving your gas-guzzling vanity car, and really I wouldn't want to. My statement was obviously meant in jest as I'm not in the business of skull-fucking anyone. I'm glad you were able to recognize the humor.

Malthus believed famine and poverty were natural outcomes and that it was God's way of preventing man from being lazy. He was wrong, on possibly every account, but thankfully his observations that plants and animals produce more offspring than can possibly survive did inspire the works of Darwin.

I don't know where you get fewer people are starving than before, when according to the World Food Summit, 840 million people live in the condition of chronic, persistent hunger. That's 1/7 of the world's population. Not a marginal figure, is it?

Stone, really man, have you actually read the website? At every turn it has provided information on why oil prospecting is already growing harder, more expensive, and by the way more dangerous (both militarily and from a climate perspective).

The energy companies aren't trying to figure out another way to make energy, that takes time and effort away from making money on what's available. You're living in a fantasy where conglomerates aren't short-sighted behemoths going from one quarter to the next with their only concern being maximizing profits and lowering overhead. If you're hoping for altruism on their part, then we're really screwed.

I think you give these companies way too much credit in terms of their omniscience. If they are so readily prepared for every situation then how did Exxon-Valdez sink off the coast of Alaska? How did OPEC manage to slide a crippling oil embargo past them? No, it's clear that the energy companies aren't in the business of making contingency plans, even when their own livelihood is at stake.

This is a real problem, it may not be the biggest out there, but it's one that is only going to grow and get progessively worse. Now, we -can- ignore it now and do so until it becomes too big to turn a blind eye to, or we can do little things in our daily lives now that will at the very least help even in a small way to buy us some time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I -want- this to happen. I'm hoping like the rest of you that some scientific breakthrough will save us at the zero-hour and we'll be able to go on living our comfortable lives in peace. Unfortunately, the facts don't in any way support this kind of thinking. So, my choices are to live in denial and get bit on the ass when the time comes, or do some simple planning now and try to spread the word as best I can.

[voltz]

If you want to buy a gas hog, fine. The economy needs your money more then you do.

[The_Meach]

Doomsayers have been around since we before we left the forest. As usual, the witchdoctors blame progress or change (today it's technology).

The beauty of this ecosystem (of which homo sapiens is a part) is how well it tends to balance itself out. For thousands of years the fossil fuel mankind exploited the most was...wood. Obviously it's a renewable resource but had wood usage continued unabated from the 18th century (for instance) to today...OMG we'd be living in a tree-less world populated by Mad Max-types (but w/powdered wigs and lace cuffs). But what happened instead? Mankind found or invented other tools whereby he brought Nature to heel. The steam engine. Eventually the carbeurated engines of today. Even computers have saved trees; think of all the work we now do on screens rather than consuming paper, although I'm sure that eventually a mediocre law student w/a penchant for Malthusian logic will find a way to worry about the rapid depletion of sand.

We've already witnessed the seeds being planted for future energy harvests. Nuclear power is exponentially more efficient than coal (not to mention cleaner). Solar and wind power, while in their infant stages, are inexhaustible for at least a million years. Electric cars have debuted and will no doubt become very popular once oil reserves become scarce (driving up prices; giving ppl an incentive to find cheaper transport).

The laws of supply and demand aren't just for businessmen and economic advisors. They apply to the environment and regularly, if serreptitiously, impact our own (free) willful decisions.

You ever hear about an economist named Malthus? He predicted that the world's population was going to grow so uncontrollably that the world was going to effectively run out of food, causing massive famine. Sounds similar to this website, right? Yeah, except Malthus is about 240 years old - and what he predicted hasn't come true yet.

Well. Beaten again by Stone. *kneels*

[g0zen]

We've already witnessed the seeds being planted for future energy harvests. Nuclear power is exponentially more efficient than coal (not to mention cleaner).

You've obviously never played Metal Gear Solid. The idea of nuclear energy being clean and safe is bull. If you think the stuff is so safe then I'd ask if you'd be willing to take a bath in some of the radioactive waste produced by reactors. Yeah, the stuff we -can't- get rid of and probably won't go away for a few millenia.

As detailed in the topic website, Solar and Wind power are not only in their infancy but are also subject to changing weather conditions. Thus its not a reliable source of energy to replace the massive infrastructure in place that accomodates petroleum.

The cold hard truth is that there currently is no viable replacement for gas, and so it's in our best interests to show just a touch of restraint and try to buy ourselves some time before it becomes too late to develop a good alternative.