[AlexdeLarge]

Talking among family and friends.........this is the most common response I get.
Many people I talk to still have not heard of the term "Peak Oil". When I expain what it is and what it implies for our way of life, they are skeptical at best. Many say the rise in the price of oil is due to the normal suspects: Big Oil, Speculators, Weak Dollar. (Mainstream media is doing a great job of snowing the sheeple!)

"Nothing I can do about it, so why worry."
Maybe they are right!
What do you hear from your family/friends???

[emersonbiggins]

"They'll figure something out"

[UncoveringTruths]

"OK what's the solution?"

Usually breaks down after that with "No way" followed by emersonbiggins quote.

[Spanktron9]

"They'll figure something out"

Ditto.
I hear the "technofix"/"Manhattan Project" answer quite often. People seem to understand that PO is real, but they have faith we will surmount it through smarts/gumption/luck/providence/whatever. They fail to understand the underlying fundamentals (probably my fault through poor explanation), and thus believe that since we overcame other "problems" this is no different.

[kpeavey]

What do you hear from your family/friends???

ME: Hey Bob, Industrial civilization has a 100 year projected lifespan.
BOB: I better get that boat while they still make 'em
--
ME: Say, Jerry, have you thought about stocking up on food? Prices will be rising sharply over the next year.
JERRY: I would, but I've spent all my money on a big screen TV
---
ME: (to brothers wife) The price of oil is rising because demand is outstripping supply.
SISTER IN LAW: Look at the time...American Idol is coming on.
---
COWORKER 1: Man, the price of gas is going through the roof. It's the dam.n Presidents fault.
COWORKER 2: No, it's the greedy oil companies milking us for all we've got.
COWORKER 3: It'll come down once we get out of Iraq.
COWORKER 4: Hey. Where'd you get those new boots?
---
SISTER: You're so smart with that solar hot water thing.
ME: ( I explain the future of energy )
SISTER: You're crazy.
---
They don't know, they don't want to know. If you talk about it, they think you are nuts. The only way the world can continue smoothly is if the people are kept in the dark. Imagine the chaos if the general public understood the nature of the problem and took action. Hoarding of food and supplies, guns, store shelves emptying and staying empty. Farmland prices going through the roof. People changing jobs everywhere, entire segments of commerce shutting down as people make the change in their lifestyle needed to promote sustainability.

There is a small portion of the population that understands the problem. There is a larger portion that will never understand. The rest don't care-it won't happen to them, it's not believable or too far fetched. Most people are so involved with their lifestyles that the idea of changing results in denial kicking in as a defense mechanism. Ignore the problem, it will go away. It's too much for them to handle.

Talking about it will get you ostracized. Better to keep your mouth shut to preserve your social network. They will come around in time. You will be there with answers when the time is right.

[AlexdeLarge]

"Talking about it will get you ostracized."
That is very true. Remember the Saturday night live skit "Debbie Downer"? LOL
You don't want to be "Donny Doomer" ! It's not a great way to pick up girls! LOL

[allenwrench]

Talking among family and friends.........this is the most common response I get.
Many people I talk to still have not heard of the term "Peak Oil". When I expain what it is and what it implies for our way of life, they are skeptical at best. Many say the rise in the price of oil is due to the normal suspects: Big Oil, Speculators, Weak Dollar. (Mainstream media is doing a great job of snowing the sheeple!)
"Nothing I can do about it, so why worry."
Maybe they are right!
What do you hear from your family/freinds???

I've talked with few survivalists that have admitted it is hard getting their family on the preparedness bandwagon. That is somewhat that case with my family.
One problem I have is my wife especially likes to hide her head in the sand - she says it is depressing and will not even sit down to study any of the background material such as 'peak oil' 'peak NG' peak food' etc to develop a realization that there is a need for preparedness.

When I question media / politicians about why they hide their head in the sand when it comes to PO most have no reply. It seems they think there is 'no upside' in this topic of peak oil since it can't be fixed.
The upside is in the preparation and a more manageable and orderly transition...less deaths. Then again, maybe the governments upside is in the deaths and having less mouths to have to feed?

I think people come to this topic for different reasons.
But we all have the same basic survival instinct in common with one another.
Some of us do a great job surviving catastrophes and some of us cannot even survive a stretch of hot weather and die.

So it takes knowledge, dedication and action to be successful at it.

Remember, knowledge without application is useless: Survivalism and Self-sufficiency

Nnone of us will be ultimate survivors, we all have to die one day. But the successful survivor extends his or her life beyond an earlier death...a death that was caused by ignorance of how to make that life last longer.

[PonyBoy78]

They don't know, they don't want to know. If you talk about it, they think you are nuts. The only way the world can continue smoothly is if the people are kept in the dark. Imagine the chaos if the general public understood the nature of the problem and took action. Hoarding of food and supplies, guns, store shelves emptying and staying empty. Farmland prices going through the roof. People changing jobs everywhere, entire segments of commerce shutting down as people make the change in their lifestyle needed to promote sustainability.

Perhaps I haven't thought this through enough to see all of the implications of this attitude, but my gut reaction is this: Fine. Let them be unprepared. I'll be the one taking advantage of the lower farmland prices. I'll be ahead in terms of mental/emotional adjustment. If they want to sit at home and wait for the government to help them, fine.

[eastbay]

When I started mentioning this to people close to me around four years ago, the resonses were variations of: 'You're nuts'.
After a while the responses changed a bit to: 'we'll think of something'.
Then, as gas prices dropped to under $2.00 a year and a half ago the responses changed back to: 'you're nuts'.

Now the responses are strangely different, Now, they've morphed into: 'we won't be able to get to work if gas keeps getting more expensive'.
The list of places to direct blame has recently expanded too. Remember when it was a short list including primarily environmentalists and OPEC? Now it includes 'speculators', Russians, Chinese, Indians, oil traders, Arabs, Venezuelans, environmentalists, OPEC, Congress, war, Iranians, Detroit, SUV owners, and just about everyone else. The finger pointing has now reached a level of frenzy. Point. Point. Point.

But never pointing at yourself. At gluttony. At the system that survives only due to greed. Greed for more and more of everything. An endless mindless craving to possess it all. The result is mass starvation. The weapon will be ethanol which, as readers here know, will eventually deliver that mass starvation everywhere.

So what do we do? Prepare as best you can, but do not surrender. First, exit the harmful cycle of gluttony and downscale your lives. Then learn the basics. Read the PFTF section. Stay fit. Avoid addictions. Quit whining. All that and more.

[cualcrees]

If there's nothing we can do, and TS gonna HTF sooner than later; wouldn't any kind of preparation be useless anyway?
Let's say I do prepare; I either start growing my own food or stockpiling it or whatever; wouldn't the rest of the "Zombies" go after me eventually? How long could I survive even if I have guns and ammo? And, even more, would I want to survive in the kind of world that would be left?

There will be waaay more people desperate, hungry, mad, and out looking for anything to eat (some if not most of them armed with guns, too) than I could ever possibly fend off even with a whole arsenal.
What do you think? am I wrong?

Does it depend on the kind of decline and post-PO world as to whether being prepared is worth it or not?
Please don't flame me, I'm just trying to learn.

[Mack12345]

As a new commer here to Peakoil.com and a new comer to the idea of PO . "I started getting it after a link apeared on yahoo a while back ..."
I can totaly relate to the "Nothing I can do about it . So why worry ?" Mentality ..

Honestly , I know that this PO thing is true ... I am not stupid ... A combination of common sence , a little bit of investigation on the internet , a semi-competent education and posts on this site have drilled the truth home .
The world as we know it is pretty much gonna end and its likely to end pretty soon .
I accept that .. i am pretty sure its to late for me to really "prepare"

I am a 32 year ould out of shape man with very few skills .
Nothing I can do about it, so why worry .

I have started loseing weight/exercising .
I have started stockpileing food .
I bought a book on first -aid that im reading .
Im, trying to trade my junk car for a junk car that gets better gas milage .
I have commited to quit smokeing , I havent did it yet but im moving twords it .
I am trying to switch to a job nearer to my home .
I am trying to knock out as much dept as I can eventhough "Dept free" cannot be obtained .
I have began reading books and websites about basic survival .
For the first time in my life I am learning how to shoot/care for/ maintain a firearm .
I have even made a post or two on Peakoil.com about things "trends" i have noticed in my profession "grocery store stocker" ...
Nothing I can do about it. So why worry?

[lettered_olive]

My husband's been resisting ever since I first read up on "peak oil" a few months ago. He realizes that we're running out, but apparently prays to the technology Gods. He also tends to be an ultra-optimist and comes out with responses like: "We have 6.7 billion people on this planet and they're all trying to make the world a better place. Surely, someone will come up with a solution." (Wha??!!! Yes ... billions of earthlings ... that's precisely the problem. And I can guarantee you that every last one of them is not trying to make the world a better place. BTW, what *are* you sniffing?)

I think he got a bit of a shock on our 4th of July vacation, however. We wound up hooking up with another well-educated, lucid couple and, (surprise, surprise), they turned out to be real doomers. I had a wonderful time chatting them up, talking Kunstler, Orlov, Energy Bulletin, etc., etc. while Mr. lettered_olive smiled benevolently on.

The result? I found out, on the way home, the problems Mr. lettered_olive really has with all of this. Curiously, these problems are both aesthetic and moral. First, 'peak oil' is ugly. It gives him the creeps. On the other hand, flat-screen TVs are fun and beautiful (in their own way). Second, he's truly bothered by the every-man-for-himself, hoard-your-food-and-gold coins selfishness of it all. Ditto for the we're-helpless-we're-all-going-to-die undertone to the conversation.

Well, unfortunately, I can't get reality out of my mind. But I can see his point.

(I've also decided not to push him any more on the issue. But that's a personal decision and I can see why others might want to keep at it with their friends and SOs.)

[forbin]

it seem the GOP is doing fine in keeping the masses under control
Funny really , wifey said nuthing on telly saturday night as the last idol/singalong / spam TV finished last week
Me? sorry love nuffing been on for YEARS! except that mind control stuff of course........

until the issue is the face of the masses , nothing will be done
I think september look about the right time.....
we can do something - prepare !
( although I admit it will take a goverment to tackle it as we british are very much an "I all right, Jack" type of people )

the govenment have prepared - I sure all those terrorist laws are there for us - we terrorise the GOP greatly!
As for doing something , until the mantra of "the market will provide" is shown to be a sham , nothing will happen.
the market sets prices - nothing else
Forbin.

[eastbay]

If there's nothing we can do, and TS gonna HTF sooner than later; wouldn't any kind of preparation be useless anyway? Let's say I do prepare; I either start growing my own food or stockpiling it or whatever; wouldn't the rest of the "Zombies" go after me eventually? How long could I survive even if I have guns and ammo? And, even more, would I want to survive in the kind of world that would be left? There will be waaay more people desperate, hungry, mad, and out looking for anything to eat (some if not most of them armed with guns, too) than I could ever possibly fend off even with a whole arsenal.
What do you think? am I wrong? Does it depend on the kind of decline and post-PO world as to whether being prepared is worth it or not? Please don't flame me, I'm just trying to learn.

Well, no one knows for certain how things will unwind, but things WILL unwind, there is no doubt. It could be over a very short period of time, which would be insanely chaotic and brutal, or it could be a soft and fluffy powerdown as more and more of our engines and machines stop.

In the first scenario, there's not much anyone could do but run, unless you're already safely snuggled up in an isolated location. Those who make it through this event will have plenty of work to do making it through the following years. In the second, we'll pass through Argentina, Cuba, then finally Zimbabwe over a period of many years adapting or slowly starving as we slowly descend into a world with less food and everything else.

There's no way to tell right now. We'll have to wait and see. But in the meanwhile, do all you can. It's a fantastic challenge, plus, this epic and historically unprecedented economic collapse will be well worth witnessing either way. Imagine living through this one! Wow!

[Tyler_JC]

That's why you explain this as a cost savings mechanism for them.

No one cares about the fate of industrial civilization for the next 40 years...but most people will pay attention if you tell them how much money they will save by buying a solar panel or investing in better windows.

[eastbay]

That's why you explain this as a cost savings mechanism for them. No one cares about the fate of industrial civilization for the next 40 years...but most people will pay attention if you tell them how much money they will save by buying a solar panel or investing in better windows.

Excellent point Tyler. Plus, to expand further, we can explain why learning to garden and planting fruit trees, for example, will not only make you healthier and more knowledgeable, it'll save anyone tons of money on produce RIGHT NOW thereby enabling anyone to divert scarce funds toward better preparation.

[mos6507]

Quit whining.

Not much chance of that here.

[eastbay]

Quit whining.

Not much chance of that here.

You can say that again. We're all here mostly because we WANT to do something. It's one of our Prime Directives!

[syrac818]

Interesting topic.

And to be honest, there is something to be said for the reaction of "Nothing I can do about it, so why worry?". The fact is, peak oil is one of many, many factors that could result in our collective demise. From nuclear war to bird flu to massive global warming to meteors hitting the Earth to....

There is always reason to worry. Death is always upon us. At some point you have to decide whether or not you are going to be consumed these painful thoughts, try to deal with them more constructively or simple ignore them. With thousands of posters on here (and energy bulletin, The Oil Drum, LATOC, etc..) I can all but guarantee that there has been someone who spent months or years agonizing over the horrific future just ahead of them - only to drop dead of a heart attack before any of it really came to fruition.

The bottom line is life is short, and none of us know what's ahead. For me, the biggest obstacle is being peak oil aware while maintaining a sense of joy and purpose in life.

[UselessEater]

"Nothing I can do about it, so why worry."
Maybe they are right!

They are right. There is nothing they can do about it. The problem is way too massive for individuals or small groups to deal with.

If the world is looking at a die-off of hundreds of millions of people, how in the hell do survivalists expect that they will somehow be able to avoid all the violent turmoil that would accompany that sort of cataclysm? Their fooling themselves. For everyone defending a stockpile with firepower, there will be a hundred trying to capture it with firepower.

Either the entire world gets on the same peak oil page or everyone's boat sinks. Only worldwide cooperation in adjusting to an entirely new economic paradigm could even hope to navigate such a radical adjustment.