Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:24 am Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
Flow wrote:
Could it have anything to do with the fact that the US has heard it is running out of oil since the very early 1900s and those predictions have never come true?
Ah, isn't it an established fact the lower US-48 states peaked in 1970/71 and production has been declining year on year since, confirming M. King Hubbert's predictions.
Flow wrote:
Or maybe it has something to do with there being two sides to the debate and no hard evidence one way or another to support either claim.
IMO the theory of Peak Oil has been proved time and again across the world as we can see that many oil-producing countries have already peaked [see the ASPO database on the last page of its November newsletter]. I cannot understand why when it is applied to the world as a whole there is so much debate and argument about whether it's going to happen or not.
As most people here will agree, it will and it's just a matter of when and by how much it declines. All that remains to debate is how we are going to deal with it.
Joined: Oct 22, 2005 Posts: 709 Location: European Capital of Kulcha 2008
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:40 am Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
CARVER wrote:
So I think governments and businesses are trying to influence the consumers to make a smooth transition, but they have to be very careful not to alarm us too much which could make us switch from a buying spree to a savings spree. But they are also hurried by reality because the problems are starting to show up. Doing this all while still trying to compete makes it an even more dangerous game.
This post provides a very good analysis. Our willingness to operate within the present societal framework, is because we are all aspirational - in our own different ways - and our governments establish their authority to govern, by promising us a stable and secure framework in which to make those dreams (the prizes for our endeavours) come true.
Start telling people that the education; job; investments; savings; pension plan scenario they've expected as a right, might not be deliverable after all - and you get a whole lot of disenchanted citizens who no longer see any point in staying on the treadmill.
It's a risky balancing act on the part of government, and I can only interpret the present 'anti-terrorist' legislation being rolled out in several countries, as their way of setting civil disobedience controls in place now, for when the trouble really starts.
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:59 am Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
The U.S. media is entertainment, not information. In the old days, network news divisions were considered sort of a public service. They earned the network bragging rights, but not money.
No more. Now the news divisions are held to the same standard as the rest of the programming. They are supposed to score ratings and make money.
As a result, we're stuck with a media that tells us what we want to hear, rather than what we need to know. IMO, this is the fatal flaw of capitalism. (Well, besides the infinite growth on finite resources thing.) The free market is great for responding to the current situation. It's not so great when it comes to preparing for the future.
If the worst-case scenario happens this winter, with rolling blackouts, shortages of heating oil and natural gas, and grocery store shelves bare, people are going to wish they'd gotten more info on the looming energy crisis, and less on, say, Tom Cruise's girlfriend. But by then it will be too late.
Joined: Aug 18, 2004 Posts: 694 Location: SF Bay Area, Calif
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
Agree with gg3 and many other posters.
gg3 wrote:
TV news is generally dumbed-down to the level of a 12-year-old or lower. Not worth your time. Best source of news is the internet. Start with BBC internet service and various liberal & conseravtive blogs and their respective links. Always good to get multiple sides of every story, even stuff you disagree with.
Also, the more you hang out on the internet, the more ahead of the news cycle you become. You'll be talking to your friends about something, and then a few weeks later they see it in the mainstream media. This will happen again and again, and next thing you know, everyone around you thinks you're the most well-informed person in town.
HOWEVER, there is much we personally can do. I love to bitch and the paranoid viewpoint has much to recommend it -- but we can go beyond that.
How?
As gg3 suggests, finding the good sources of information and educating ourselves.
Connecting with other people with similar values, and further developing one's ideas through discussion and argument. Peakoil.com is only one place to start.
Educating oneself beyond the usual superficial discussions. There are many different fields related to PO in which one can delve. For example: agriculture, eco-economics, H.T. Odum, physics and engineering.
At a certain point, writing for a broader public than the PO crowd. There are a number of writers on Peakoil.com who are ready to "go public" and I hope they will.
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:00 pm Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
I find that I am interested in getting what my family needs first, then I'll tell others to get it. For example, I knew that the guys who install solar hot water would be swamped, so we got them scheduled to do ours, then I told people about them. They are a scarce resource. Why tell the rest of the world until we had secured our supply. The same with land. I found a choice woodlot. I couldn't tell anyone about it until we had bought it. What if they wanted it too? There was only one. It's just human nature. Right now there is a quiet scramble out there for the few things that actually have value. Land with farming possibilities, smaller cars, heatable houses, garden spots, efficient washing machines, woodstoves, piles of hardwood, chainsaws, heating oil, etc. All that other junk has been rendered obsolete by the new energy reality. That's why they are trying to sell it so desperately. There is somebody who will still buy it if they offer it at an attractive price. SUV's, McMansions, wave runners, snowmobiles, big screen TV's all on easy payment loans. The media is still trying to flush out the last of the cash before the heating season begins. They don't want no peak oil. It's bad for business.
Joined: Sep 06, 2004 Posts: 5315 Location: Smalltown New Zealand
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:08 pm Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
Revi wrote:
I find that I am interested in getting what my family needs first.
I'm keeping below the radar and getting the immediately family sorted too. We've recently moved so quietly getting to know the neighbours. _________________ "Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers." - Henry Louis Mencken
Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: Why mainstream media isn’t discussing peak oil.
The neighbors are the only way we are going to make it through this thing. They are very self-sufficient around here. Most can fix things, and keep things going. They were very interested in our solar projects. We might just make it around here.
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