...but everyone needs to quit worrying and enjoy themselves a bit! You could die in a car crash tomorrow, or be diagnosed with cancer, and never even live to see peak oil
I worry, but I don't get overly depressed. Anecdote: Recently, I got called to a motor vehicle accident in the middle of the night (I'm an EMT). Three teenagers were killed instantly when they crashed into a tree while attempting to flee the police.
The next day, I'm home weeding my onions, milking my cow, thinking how DAMNED FORTUNATE I have been for 45 years.
That crash is a metaphor for what's going to happen in the next five years. I actually feel extremely fortunate to have gotten wind of PO long before the general populous.
It is really too late to prepare for peak oil now unless you are already a farmer/rancher living off the land. So those of us in the cities and suburbs we are as good as dead and our days our numbered. Don't waste your last few years worrying and preparing only to delay the inescapable for a few months if you are lucky.
I can't sit around and just do nothing. I often worry that its going to be too little too late though. Wished I'd started preparing long ago.
Man, us humans really screwed up big time with this overshoot deal. I can't get my head around 5 billion humans dieing. Thats just insane.
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:44 am Post subject: Re: Preparing for Peak Oil NOT worth it
Novus wrote:
It is really too late to prepare for peak oil now unless you are already a farmer/rancher living off the land. So those of us in the cities and suburbs we are as good as dead and our days our numbered. Don't waste your last few years worrying and preparing only to delay the inescapable for a few months if you are lucky. This crisis will likely go nuclear in the end so it is best not to even worry about it. Just enjoy these last few years. Go for a quality life over quantity life. A short life spent enjoying every moment can be better then a long one spent worrying.
The fact that you are so farking positive that things sucks gives me hope. Thank you.
Bye the way. Hippies here at Peakoil.com have convinced me that you can in fact grow enough food on 2000 sq. ft. to live. All you would need to do is rip out the driveway, the street in front of your house, and your patio. Sounds relatively easy. Get some chickens. _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 921 Location: 145'2"E 37'46"S
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 3:55 am Post subject: Nothing is easier than giving up.
Novus wrote:
It is really too late to prepare for peak oil now unless you are already a farmer/rancher living off the land. So those of us in the cities and suburbs we are as good as dead and our days our numbered. Don't waste your last few years worrying and preparing only to delay the inescapable for a few months if you are lucky. This crisis will likely go nuclear in the end so it is best not to even worry about it. Just enjoy these last few years. Go for a quality life over quantity life. A short life spent enjoying every moment can be better then a long one spent worrying.
And your dark certainty is based on...?
a. Personal difficulty coming to grips with reality.
b. Need for others to think as you do so you don't have to feel conspicuous in your weakness.
c. Experience of previous energy descent epochs (name of planet/previous uincarnation please).
d. 'Inside info' from your toaster.
I have no problem with ppl who don't particularly want to 'make it through' (prob cos i myself regularly reconsider that question).
But going around telling other people theres no point trying is flat out selfish, bordering on evil. Novus could be on average right, but its damn sure not predetermined (not in my universe) and there will be major 'patchiness' in what works and what doesn't.
Christ, people have been slouching around for decades going, "whats the point of it all, theres no meaning..", largely cos cheap energy and social disintegration had made them redundant and alienated. Now we've all GOT to pull together just to keep the stone age at bay, and people are slouching around going, "its too hard, too late, we're not meant to survive, blah blah, wah wah"!
We've all spent years as virtual hero's via hollywood, now we've got a chance at the real thing and.. "its too hard"!!!? Damn right it'll be hard, hopefully even hard enough to wake us up to life.
Joined: Jul 21, 2005 Posts: 35 Location: Kansas, USA
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: Nothing is easier than giving up.
Liamj wrote:
Christ, people have been slouching around for decades going, "whats the point of it all, theres no meaning..", largely cos cheap energy and social disintegration had made them redundant and alienated. Now we've all GOT to pull together just to keep the stone age at bay, and people are slouching around going, "its too hard, too late, we're not meant to survive, blah blah, wah wah"!
We've all spent years as virtual hero's via hollywood, now we've got a chance at the real thing and.. "its too hard"!!!? Damn right it'll be hard, hopefully even hard enough to wake us up to life.
Amen!
We don't know how this is all going to pan out. It's scary when you listen to the "what was the population before cheap oil" argument. But I doubt that it will be all that simple. At least that it won't be uniformly bad across the globe.
If it's any consolation, you here on the Internet, with computers, are most likely members of the richest 10% of humanity. The oil crash is going to affect those dependent upon cheap oil more than those who use almost no oil. But it's still going to suck much much worse for the developing nations; those who are jumping on the bandwagon that the developed world built.
I look at a place like China and think: Man, if you guys only held onto the traditional ways for a little longer. If you only resisted modernity. Now, they're tied to oil-based agriculture, as bad as the western nations. With less land available per person, no less. How bad is the crash going to be for them!?
Before I heard about P.O., I was up in arms already over the way the political situation in the USA has degraded SO MUCH. When I first heard about P.O., one of my first reactions was thank God! Finally people will find a reason to be shaken from their sleep, and might just get off their asses and do something!
Consider the amount of waste that occurs. The massive amounts of energy and effort going into producing useless crap which only functions to alienate ourselves from one another, and suck up all our time. Think of the millions of hours - nay billions, spent on Internet porn, to name just one example.
Joined: May 15, 2005 Posts: 4144 Location: THE MATRIX
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:18 pm Post subject: Re: yes it's depressing, yes we need to prepare....
bravo!!! bravo!!
to quote some of todays finest rappers "I aint goin out like that yo" but I have a funny feeling that alot of people will have to go "out like that" yo...
Yeah we arent doomers by a long shot but it is fun to play the role
I am sure that once the so called "anti doomers" get a good shot of PO to the brain that they will be the ones looking like true doomers.
"what will we do!?!?!?"
"we are not prepared!?!?!?"
"the sky is falling?!?!?"
"Theres no toilet paper?!?!?!"
Unable to imagine a life of hard work and the lack of an automobile they will recess into childish behavior patterns, paranoid, suicidal and depraved most will die of starvation alone asleep in the fetal position
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2005 6:48 am Post subject: Re: yes it's depressing, yes we need to prepare....
wildsparrow wrote:
I was serious though! I do have a Stone-Age cookbook!
Is it all cave paintings on animal skins showing how to kill the beasts with sharpened sticks, cut them up with flint knives and then roast them over a fire tearing bits off with your fingers?
Joined: Aug 14, 2005 Posts: 92 Location: Sydney, Australia
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: yes it's depressing, yes we need to prepare....
No, it has recipes such as fish soup, laverbread, boiled samphire, carragheen sweet mousse, roast goose, cutlets of wild boar etc. It all sounds surprisingly civilised, if meat-heavy, as it was obviously before proper agriculture.
Joined: Aug 21, 2005 Posts: 105 Location: Iowa, US
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:17 am Post subject: Re: yes it's depressing, yes we need to prepare....
My family and I are preparing for the "Big Rollover," by building an Earth Sheltered Home. We have done a bit of research on it, and feel it is the best option for shelter in our midwestern US climate. With thick masonry walls and many feet of earth for insulation, thermal inertia is maximized, and when accompanied with the passive solar designs, there is relatively almost no dependacy for other means of climate control.
The main problem with these structures, is that it is expensive to build, since excavation and thick masonry walls are required. So it is in my best interests to lite a fire under my ass, and get moving on the construction, since the cost of buildings materials and such is rising ever faster. I do not wish to stand at the beach and watch the tsunami come ashore.
On a finer note, i advise people to check out some pictures of some Earth Sheltered Homes. I personally think they are very lovely, especially to look at.
Davis Caves Construction
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ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap 
And your dark certainty is based on...?
