We cannot drill our way out of this oil crisis. Since 2000, oil companies working in the U.S. have doubled the number of wells drilled per year.
Although increased drilling has added new oil to the nation's supply, it has not done so fast enough to offset the terminal decline of existing fields.
We are going to have to import more of our oil. Period.
Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 3611 Location: Working the Beat
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
Learning about peak oil is kind of like picking up a little monkey and putting it on your back.
It's not a very big monkey, but after a while having it with you all the time gets to be a drag and you will take it off your back as you have done with many other things in your life.
To get rid of the monkey, you may take it out in the country and release it. When you get back home, however, there it will be, looking at you like "I liked it on your back."
No matter how you try to get rid of the monkey, it will always seem to find its way back to you.
This can be one of the most frustrating aspects of this topic. You pick it up initially because of its novelty and the way it appeals to your sense of reason on so many levels, but when it comes time to put it down, you find that you can't.
And when you try to share your monkey problem with others they look at you like you're crazy.
And when you look in the phone book for a peak oil monkey removal service, you find that there is no such thing.
So, enjoy learning about peak oil, enjoy the site, and enjoy your new monkey. _________________ We're all Big Wave Riders. Some just don't realize it.
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 468 Location: Canada/Quebec Province
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 10:04 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
usncom wrote:
Strangely enough I first kept hearing the term "peak oil" thrashed around in a high performance automobile enthusiast forum. On a whim I decided to investigate the subject independently. I was shocked and dumbfounded at what I've found. I can't believe reputable scientists/geologists have been predicting this for some time but this has not been pushed out into the mainstream.
I'm still in the process of objectively examining both sides of the issue. In the meantime my girlfriend swears I'm obsessed with this subject. I find myself slipping the topic in every chance I get without mentioning the buzz word "peak oil". In my profession as a patrol officer, I practically live out of my car at work so even as I'm driving around in the Ford guzzlin gas I can't stop thinking about it.
I even had a dream about the subject. I was filling up gas in a really old car from the seventies. Gasoline was spilling all over the place as I was putting it in the tank. There was even a special drainage bin in the ground for the spilt fuel going in the cars as if this was normal. I tried to drive off and the fuel started leaking out like crazy from the hose near the fuel pump. I was on my way to a college class but I was worried I wouldn't make it because of the leaking hose I was so desperatly trying to fix.
As I sit here getting ready to take a break by playing "Frontline Fuel of War" (yes, oddly enough someone has made a video game based on a peak oil scenario), I wonder if its all just a fad. The religious overtones of armeggedon and societal collapse seem rather ironic given my first impression of alot of people on these forums are that they are agnostic or atheist. Apocalyptic predictions stemming from an us vs them mentality tend to be dead wrong. Our nation's religious past is littered with cults and sects whose doomsday apocalyptic visions never came to pass.
Ok I'm starting to ramble, this is my first post, and my impressions as listed above are only first impressions. The thing that stands out in all my research of this is the graphs and the solid science behind it.
Hello usncom,
First..don't push yourself too hard, you got a LOT to learn, the first being the way of life you're used to is doomed !
The second is to NOT go screaming around, i can tell you it won't do anything good..study, learn and adapt..at best, you can drop small bits of infos around you but no more.
The first FIVE ACTIONS i might advice you to do are:
1) Take a couple of empty 2L coca cola bottles , rince then use them to store a bit of water (3 days is the minimum, so it mean 2 liters of water a day = AT THE VERY LEAST 6 LITERS).
2) Buy a GOOD sleeping bag! The more adapted to your climate the better ; a sleeping bag can be your protection againt a lot of things (water, sun, camouflage if with a cammo net, etc)..If it is a good quality one, if you buy a large plastic tarp , it will be your shelter, your blanket, the thing who will keep your ass dry and warm.
Trust me, trying to sleep while being wet and cold in a mud pit with nothing to protect you is one of the miserable experience you don't wanna learn ..BTDT ..
3) This one will make you laugh..buy yourself a big jar of peanuts butter if you're not allergic..it have carbs, fats, proteins, it is a self countained food source who doesn't need to be eated or processed ! A 1 kg jar and a small bottle of multi-vitamins can get you moving for a while..
4) Buy yourself one of theses stainless steel bottle/canteen of the US army circa 1956-Vietnam. You can boil water in the canteen and store it in the bottle and you can cook in the canteen as well.
5) A good poncho..will keep you dry and cut the wind cooling factor a bit..Put it will a aluminum emergency space blanket and you're good to go for many climate.
Having a good knife , lighters and/or water proof matchs and a few candles doesn't hurt ..
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
Thanks for the replies everyone!
That youtube video was very interesting. I heard the UK person say will peak globally in 2010, yet, I read documents that say we have already peaked. Which is it?
Joined: Jan 02, 2008 Posts: 346 Location: out dispatching ronan...
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:39 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
usncom wrote:
Thanks for the replies everyone!
That youtube video was very interesting. I heard the UK person say will peak globally in 2010, yet, I read documents that say we have already peaked. Which is it?
Big oil is reporting reduced production, and opec isn't opening the taps to increase production and lower prices (and they have traditionally). It think it's pretty clear we've past peak. I've heard 2007 thrown around from various sources.
I certainly don't think production will increase at this point. I think it's safe to say we're at the top of the curve historically.
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 468 Location: Canada/Quebec Province
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:51 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
usncom wrote:
Really mos?
You're looking forward to the biggest worldwide catastrophe in the history of mankind?
Reading and preparing, but mostly waiting for something to happen can hit hard on the nerves after a while ..
It also depend how you look at it : For most peoples, it will/is saw as the biggest catastrophe in history of mankind, for others it might look as the biggest oppportunity/chalenge in history of mankind (making it a "exciting event").
Another different way you can look at the situation could be that for some, it will be looked as the worst Problem we ever faced as a species and must be dealed as such. But it can also be looked as the Solution to the destruction of the planet who is caused by overpopulation ("culling the herd" if you want).
The last sentence might look a bit "cold hearted", but when you look at the cold 'n hard numbers you can see a population increase of 625 millions humans in less than 8 years (from 2000 to 2008)..
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 2708 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:56 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
Schneider wrote:
Reading and preparing, but mostly waiting for something to happen can hit hard on the nerves after a while ..
True, but that is because society has taught (almost completely successfully) people to react slaphazardly to problems, NOT to think for themselves. _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 11:39 pm Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
usncom wrote:
My first impression is that our proximity to the nation's capital, a top terror target, would lead a reasonable person to assume that our emergency services are prepared for the worst. I don't know if peak oil is part of the game plan.
I can tell you from direct experience, in a word, no. No emergency services are prepared for the worst. Not even remotely, at the peak of our fortune, and never will be. Take from that what you will.
Get used to change is the only advice necessary and possible. _________________ Alike for those who for TO-DAY prepare,
And those that after a TO-MORROW stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries,
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There."
Joined: Jan 02, 2008 Posts: 346 Location: out dispatching ronan...
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 4:55 am Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
mos6507 wrote:
Hagakure_Leofman wrote:
I certainly don't think production will increase at this point. I think it's safe to say we're at the top of the curve historically.
I'm really looking forward to the day where we can just stop wasting time musing about whether we're over the peak or not and can just GET ON WITH IT.
I'd have to agree with you Mos! Everything is playing out as it was predicted. Of course, like anything, it feels both rapidly developing, and playing out in slow motion.
Strangely, it's habit to say 'when it happens', rather than 'as it's happening', as though 'peak oil' is still a future event. I think it would be wise is people reconsider their choice of words regarding this matter.
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 2708 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 6:05 am Post subject: Re: Just Found Out About PO. Am I OBSESSED?
usncom wrote:
My first impression is that our proximity to the nation's capital, a top terror target, would lead a reasonable person to assume that our emergency services are prepared for the worst. .
From the ERs-not-prepared thread:
"Waxman's oversight committee conducted a survey of 34 hospitals on March 25 and found that not one was prepared at that moment on that day for a terror attack.
"The situation in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles was particularly dire. There was no available space in the emergency rooms at the main trauma centers serving Washington, D.C. One emergency room was operating at over 200 percent of capacity: more than half the patients receiving emergency care in the hospital had been diverted to hallways and waiting rooms for treatment."
So, when TSHTF, you are going to be a very busy boy. _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
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..
("culling the herd" if you want).
