One of the most frustrating things for an advocate for conservation is that too often, our sources for information are dismissed as “liberal, left-wing entities seeking to profit from a fabricated problem.”
Report issued by the Lefties we know as the U.S. Army. (pdf)
If you don’t want to wade into it, (and I can’t blame you) you can read excellent summaries here and here.
Bookmark those sites. The people that pay attention to this stuff are telling us that the proverbial shit is about to hit the proverbial fan, and that we can’t “invent” our way out of this quickly. There are major shifts about to occur and if you are not at least partially prepared, you will suffer behind them.
As Southern Beale and others have warned, this affects everyone, and damn near everything. It ain’t just about the gas you require for your car. Its about fuel to heat and cool, to run your fancy electronics, and to grow, harvest, deliver, package and transport your food.
Some of you weren’t alive or weren’t driving back in the late Seventies. I remember gas lines, odd/even fill up days, shortages. I remember sleeping in my car in line at a gas station, because I was in the police academy, and not being able to get there wasn’t an excuse. Those inconveniences were just that…inconveniences. Already, people on a strict budget are trying to buy less gas, and AAA is reporting a record number of stranded motorists who have run out of gas.
I liken this to the practice of cooking a lobster by placing it into a pot of cool water, then slowly building up the heat until it falls asleep and never sees it’s impending demise. Folks, we are in the pot, and it has been simmering for years…
The debunkers will claim that it is either not occuring at all, or, that we have alternatives all but awaiting implementation. The report issued by the Army goes through each proposed alternative, and has concluded that none will allow us to continue at our current rate of consumption. Its really that simple, and that bleak.
I don’t want to be thinking about this. I’d love to be able to pretend it will all work out with no effort on my part, and go tune in to “America’s hottest new talented dancer/model/comic/rehabber” or whatever.
I’ll leave you with some chilling quotes from people who ought to know what they are talking about:
“One thing is clear: the age of easy oil is over”
David J. O’Reilly
Chairman and CEO, Chevron Corporation
“World oil production has now ceased to grow. Decline is the next step. The picnic’s over.”
Kenneth S. Deffeyes
Petroleum geologist formerly with Shell Oil, professor, and author
“Alternatives like biofuels, ethanol or biomass can play a marginal supportive role but nowhere near on the scale required. When the oil runs out the economic and social dislocation will be unprecedented.”
Michael Meacher
Former U.K. Environment Minister
My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel.”
Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum
Former Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai
