Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

Aaron · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:06 am Post subject: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

Mainstream?

What does mainstream mean anyway?

From wikipedia:
Mass media is a term used to denote a section of the media specifically envisioned and designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. It was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines, although mass media was present centuries before the term became common. The term public media has a similar meaning: it is the sum of the public mass distributors of news and entertainment across mediums such as newspapers, television, radio, broadcasting, which require union membership in large markets such as Newspaper Guild and AFTRA, & text publishers. The concept of mass media is complicated in some internet media as now individuals have a means of potential exposure on a scale comparable to what was previously restricted to select group of mass media producers. These internet media can include television, personal web pages, podcasts and blogs.

The communications audience has been viewed by some commentators as forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass-media techniques such as advertising and propaganda. The term "MSM" or "mainstream media" has been widely used in the blogosphere in discussion of the mass media and media bias.

From Money Week:
Matt Drudge has just taken Peak Oil mainstream.

Up until today, you could randomly ask 10 people on the street what “Peak Oil” is and you’d get a blank stare from at least nine of them. I’d wager that as of yesterday, Drudge himself would have been among that vast majority.

Up until today, the idea that there’s only a finite amount of oil in the world that can be recovered, and that once you reach the halfway point there begins an irreversible decline, simply hasn’t been in most people’s awareness.

Of course, geologists and oil industry insiders have been familiar with it. Whiskey & Gunpowder readers are certainly familiar with it. And so is a subset of Lexus liberals who like Peak Oil because it dovetails nicely with their Malthusian and anti-capitalist worldview.

But all of a sudden, awareness of Peak Oil is spreading exponentially. It started today, and will only grow from here.

Publishing about Peak Oil:

wikipedia

Scientific American

Wall Street Journal

CBC

Telegraph

National Geographic

World Oil

US Army

Forbes

Shell Oil

Washington Monthly

New York times

CNN

MoneyWeek

Popular Mechanics

MSNBC

USA Today

Financial Sense

Christian Science Monitor

Huffington Post

Exxon

So... has Peak oil gone mainstream?

Ummm... yeah... it has.

'Nuff said.

source
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dukey · Fission Joined: Feb 20, 2005 Posts: 2027

i heard it mentioned on the radio today
but of course it was all the fault of the evil speculators
because clearly they are responsible for the rise from $10/barrel in 1999 to $125/b now Razz

wisconsin_cur · Moderator Joined: May 10, 2007 Posts: 2966

In short "yes" the idea has gone mainstream but the consequences (whatever you think they are) have not.
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sciencegirl · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 298

I live in Edmonton, Alberta and yesterday I saw this homemade flag hanging in a downtown construction area ranting about peak oil. It gave the classical definition of what peak oil is, then it went on to say that life will be very different in 5 years. I have been reading about peak oil for about 3 years now and I am seeing more awareness and media coverage of peak oil within the last 6 months. I would say that it has gone mainstream.
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sciencegirl · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 298

Why is it saying posted Tue may 13, when it is only Monday May 12 ???
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kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1243

wiconson_cur wrote:

cube · Fusion Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 3573

When Matt Simmons gets invited to talk on the Oprah Winfrey Show then I'll consider it mainstream. Smile

benzoil · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:17 am Post subject: Re: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

Ferretlover · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:35 am Post subject: Re: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

Not only is it gaining mainstream momentum, it is already being reported in a "old news" kinda way:
As fuel prices surge, bike business rolls along
Shops see marked increase in sales, repairs those who pedal to work
BISMARCK, N.D. - Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is good for business — if you run a bike shop.
Commuters around the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers — or buying new ones — to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say.
"Everyone that comes in the shop is talking about the gas prices," said Barry Dahl, who opened Barry's Bikes in Bismarck in April. He sold more than 50 bicycles in the first month, double the projections in his business plan. …
Keep on pedaling!
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sameu · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:44 am Post subject: Re: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

not in belgium anyway
of course there's more and more reporting in the media about the high oil prices, but always blaming it on the wrong things
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btu2012 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:53 am Post subject: Re: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

I agree. People can't deny the high prices anymore, but many still keep denying the causes and effects.

This will likely continue for a while, it's a good insight into how corrupt and incompetent the media has become.

There will likely be desperate opposition to facing the true causes and their implications once that starts filtering though.

Btu
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vision-master · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:55 am Post subject: Re: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

Eli · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:59 am Post subject: Re: Has Peak Oil gone Mainstream?

Peak oil as a term has long broken out in the mainstream.

But it is not accepted as a legitimate cause of high oil prices, the mainstream media is still by and large in denial mode and may continue so even once peak has long passed. Most often PO is mentioned and then quickly discredited.

If the media was to truly embrace PO, it would be embracing the end of its own existence as it stands now.

dinopello

When Paris Hilton gets the Hubbert curve tatooed on the small of her back and all the young girls copy her- then it will be mainstream.

But seriously, I think this time you may be right. We asked this back in 2005 when a few MSM articles were printed but it didn't really catch on in the mainstream vernacular. If gas drops back to sub $3 it will fade away now too. Only that may not happen.

FreakOil

A lot of educated people in China get it. Having read from other posters what the average American thinks, not just about Peak Oil but environmental issues as well, I'd say people over here are a lot more clued in. However, they still believe that "they" will find a "solution."
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