[TheDude]

Target:
President Barack Obama
Sponsored by:
Private Citizen

Have you heard of "peak oil"? It's the time when the world supply of oil begins to decline. Our petition calls on President Obama and Congress to direct the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to begin an immediate scientific investigation and to provide policy advice.

A Petition for the NAS to Study the Decline of Worldwide Oil Production

A Call to President Barack Obama and to the Congress of the United States of America to Commission a Comprehensive Study of Oil Production Decline (termed "Peak Oil"): Facts, Impacts and Mitigation and Preparedness Options to be undertaken by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC).

Whereas, noted governmental, industrial and scientific authorities indicate the Nation and the World face unprecedented challenge and hardships due to the decline of worldwide oil production;[1]
Whereas, many of these authorities indicate that time is of the utmost importance; [2]
Whereas, many studies also conclude that leaving the problem unaddressed will result in major economic dislocations and the possibility of global economic collapse; [3]

Therefore, we, the undersigned, petition the Congress and the President to commission the NAS, NAE, IOM and NRC to undertake a comprehensive, nonpartisan analysis of the facts, impacts and implications of "Peak Oil" in order to advise the Nation on appropriate responses[4].
Further, we request that this comprehensive study be undertaken with speed and with a formal mechanism whereby independent analyses regarding causes, impacts, and mitigation, risk management, and contingency options be considered by members of the study committees.

275 signatures! From a target goal of 100k.

"Request Study of Global Oil Supply Decline & Impacts"

[cipi604]

I don;t need more studies, especially from the government of USA.

Peak oil is here, too late.

[pablonite]

275 signatures!

Wow, at least 275 people who don't seem to have a clue how their government really works in the 21st century!

Peak Oil in mainstream media and government has an alias, it's called Global Warming or more recently labeled Climate Change since we are more likely in a cooling period.

The plan to deal with peak oil is already well versed with regards to the middle class of the world. One simple shock, probably in Iran, on top of the engineered economic crises and kiss your lifestlye goodbye.

There will be no smooth power down, just a lot of hammers to usher in a one world government with plenty of oil and guns to make it happen rather quickly.

The real shock will be what people given at little bit of authority over others will find themselves capable of after the last 20 or so years of TV "programming"

[35Kas]

Pablonite, it is of my understanding that peak oil, or increasing energy scarcity per capita, has an alias, or rather, has Climate Change being scapegoated as giving a reason to why people should be more conservative on their use of resources (to be green).

Instead of having people understand why they have to reduce their energy use/waste (increasing scarcity, poison and greenhouse gas levels in the environment), people are fed this great PR propaganda that its cool to be green because it helps the environment and helps reduce global warming (puppies, babies, happy children playing). It makes you feel good about doing something fashionable, people will think that you are a Person That Cares About The Important Stuff. We all know this because people don't buy hybrids because its good for the environment (it's not) or saves them money (lol?) in gas , they buy it because it shows that They Care (TM) and are good people (people didn't like the hybrid civic because it didn't look like one), even though they live in McMansions in suburbia, take vacations 6K mi away every year and buy endless amounts of s-it, like seafood that is trawled from the ocean, ipods made by slaves in china in factories powered by electric power plants spewing raw CO2 into the atmosphere, or a TV that is made with rare materials mined from open pit mines in some 3rd world country that devastates their environment, contaminates the water table and poisons hundreds of thousands of ignorant innocent people.

Some people understand that the only way for this to work is by reducing your consumption, specially waste. It doesn't help to build and drive hybrids, they create just as much waste as a normal car through the manufacture and the use of the special materials and their operation (highways, tires, oil, etc). It does help to build mass transit networks like light rail and heavy rail for cargo.

It doesn't help to build solar panels and windmills or to grow ethanol (but it makes a lot of money for special interests), but it would make sense to reduce consumption and consolidate electricity production through the use of breeder nuclear reactors.

Society and its corporate plutocracy propaganda machine is not going to do the right things for the greater good, they will do the things that do the greatest good for the people that hold the power, no matter the consequences.

Do you think Al "Clean-Coal" Gore and the religion of global warming is about saving the environment? Its a great con game where people are scammed to do things that are against their best interest by master Lobbyists like Al "Learjet" Gore. These hypocrites never gave a s-it about the environment. Clean-Coal (TM), mined through mountaintop removal and ecosystem destruction (and your still releasing Uranium and vast amounts of Carbon into the air). Flip-Flop anyone?

Example: "We must reduce our dependency on foreign oil and reduce oil consumption to increase national security and save the environment, and we will do this by continuing the course (growth-based consumerist wasteful economy) in a different flavor (keep commuting in hybrid/electric cars 40mi from work, etc) ... Not "We must reduce oil consumption and our dependency on foreign oil because this is a increasingly scarce non-renewable natural resource whose production/transportation/refining network is growing more vulnerable and dangerous by the day, allowing for ever more catastrophic consequences. We must change our priorities and way of life because the current trend ends in ever greater misery, pollution and disaster for the ecosystem and human civilization.

What a fuck&ng joke. Nothing is going to change until the game is over.

Have a great day and enjoy your life while you can.

/end rant.

[mos6507]

The usual dismissive cynicism. Why whine about stuff if you think nothing can change? Just STFU then.

[35Kas]

Change (TM) You Can Believe In!

You are right mos, it was an emotional slip.

I'll just go back to Doing Whats Right instead of wasting time Prostelyzing posting in teh internets about the obvious, where all keyboard commanders already know everything.

[TheDude]

275 signatures!

Wow, at least 275 people who don't seem to have a clue how their government really works in the 21st century!

Former government employees Tom Whipple and Robert Hirsch are signatories, as is Alan Drake who is working on gaining attention in the US government for rail solutions to our energy dilemma. People like that will take the oh so massive bother to write a couple of short paragraphs, fill in an email, click a button or two. How did they find the time?

Probably I'm spending as much time being sarcastic as it took to fill out this damn thing. Some commentary on TOD in the last week if you want to learn about potential plusses. Hirsch took the trouble to head up the team authoring the study that's now known under his name, which got a lot of subsequent attention thanks to people with a real interest in this subject despite its being soundly ignored by almost all of Congress. Little efforts like this can make a difference, could the effort of signing this possibly be smaller on your behalf?

[shortonsense]

Target:
President Barack Obama
Sponsored by:
Private Citizen

Have you heard of "peak oil"? It's the time when the world supply of oil begins to decline. Our petition calls on President Obama and Congress to direct the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to begin an immediate scientific investigation and to provide policy advice.

A Petition for the NAS to Study the Decline of Worldwide Oil Production

Didn't the government do this just a few years back? Prodded into action by Roscoe hisself?

[vision-master]

Pablonite, it is of my understanding that peak oil, or increasing energy scarcity per capita, has an alias, or rather, has Climate Change being scapegoated as giving a reason to why people should be more conservative on their use of resources (to be green).

Instead of having people understand why they have to reduce their energy use/waste (increasing scarcity, poison and greenhouse gas levels in the environment), people are fed this great PR propaganda that its cool to be green because it helps the environment and helps reduce global warming (puppies, babies, happy children playing). It makes you feel good about doing something fashionable, people will think that you are a Person That Cares About The Important Stuff. We all know this because people don't buy hybrids because its good for the environment (it's not) or saves them money (lol?) in gas , they buy it because it shows that They Care (TM) and are good people (people didn't like the hybrid civic because it didn't look like one), even though they live in McMansions in suburbia, take vacations 6K mi away every year and buy endless amounts of s-it, like seafood that is trawled from the ocean, ipods made by slaves in china in factories powered by electric power plants spewing raw CO2 into the atmosphere, or a TV that is made with rare materials mined from open pit mines in some 3rd world country that devastates their environment, contaminates the water table and poisons hundreds of thousands of ignorant innocent people.

Some people understand that the only way for this to work is by reducing your consumption, specially waste. It doesn't help to build and drive hybrids, they create just as much waste as a normal car through the manufacture and the use of the special materials and their operation (highways, tires, oil, etc). It does help to build mass transit networks like light rail and heavy rail for cargo.

It doesn't help to build solar panels and windmills or to grow ethanol (but it makes a lot of money for special interests), but it would make sense to reduce consumption and consolidate electricity production through the use of breeder nuclear reactors.

Society and its corporate plutocracy propaganda machine is not going to do the right things for the greater good, they will do the things that do the greatest good for the people that hold the power, no matter the consequences.

Do you think Al "Clean-Coal" Gore and the religion of global warming is about saving the environment? Its a great con game where people are scammed to do things that are against their best interest by master Lobbyists like Al "Learjet" Gore. These hypocrites never gave a s-it about the environment. Clean-Coal (TM), mined through mountaintop removal and ecosystem destruction (and your still releasing Uranium and vast amounts of Carbon into the air). Flip-Flop anyone?

Example: "We must reduce our dependency on foreign oil and reduce oil consumption to increase national security and save the environment, and we will do this by continuing the course (growth-based consumerist wasteful economy) in a different flavor (keep commuting in hybrid/electric cars 40mi from work, etc) ... Not "We must reduce oil consumption and our dependency on foreign oil because this is a increasingly scarce non-renewable natural resource whose production/transportation/refining network is growing more vulnerable and dangerous by the day, allowing for ever more catastrophic consequences. We must change our priorities and way of life because the current trend ends in ever greater misery, pollution and disaster for the ecosystem and human civilization.

What a fuck&ng joke. Nothing is going to change until the game is over.

Have a great day and enjoy your life while you can.

/end rant.

How about just opening yer windows.

In a Nikkei article set to publish Monday, it was revealed that Toyota has green lit plans to offer solar panels on its popular Prius hybrid vehicle. The solar panel option will be available on the high-end Prius model when it receives a redesign in 2009. Strangely, the Japanese business newspaper also reports that the power generated by the solar panels will be used for the air conditioning system.

[TonyPrep]

The problem with the petition is that, whilst it would be great to have a fully funded scientific study about peak oil, it is likely that the activity will focus on just oil rather than opening out to an awareness that all resources will peak, if exploited beyond their renewal rates. So concentrating on the peaking of oil production may have only limited efficacy for the future of the human experiment.