I've really been trying to find excuses, but the truth of peak oil and it's implications on the world and especially the US has got me brainstorming what I would do should that happen. I feel that the politicians are ignoring this issue across the board and the implications will be severe. As long as I actually stay the course and refuse to fall into a mob mentality I believe survival is possible for me and my family. I don't know. What are your thoughts?
We have one thread going on this subject. http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=417981&f=52 The politicians that know what is going on are not going to leak us information if we only have lets say 25% of the worlds oil left. Hell I bet they wont say anything tell we are royally fucked. They hide behind the curtains. When we do run out, I honestly believe we will, its going to put the world into anarchy. With no oil we have none of the things we are custom to. Computers, cellphones, plastic water bottles, anything with plastic in it, all cleaning supplies, countless cardboard with that wax outside cover, such as beer. Cops can't do anything or go anywhere, medics, hospitals will be flooded. We have become so depended on it that we are fucked when we run dry. Lodog, watch the movie Collapse. Its about peak oil. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1503769/
The sad thing is that oil money pretty much runs the world. And those who profit most from it will no doubt squirrel away their own safety nets all the while driving the ship right into the shoals. When we crash and burn and everybody starts to really feel the effect of trying to sustain 8 billion people on earth - and 350 million here in america existing at an artificially raised comparative standard-of-living - all without the ease of which oil makes it happen, when that occurs and the shit's all over the fan, and across the room, and in our mouths and hair... then they'll just start to talk about it as if they suddenly unearthed some mystic piece of information. "This just in... we have seriously screwed the pooch. End of the world as you know it at eleven." There is no news anymore, at the national - global level. It's newstainment, and intentional obfuscation. Better that we all watch with glassy doe eyes as another British prince gets married, or some celebrity gets caught snorting meth off the breasts of a 17 year old hooker then for us to hear the truth... Wow, sorry. And with that, I will step down from the soapbox and chill. The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler is a decent intro into peak oil. Check it out.
We've known about peak oil since the 70's. We need to stop electing politicians who sell out and lie to us about the need for alternate sources. This includes the entire leadership of the Republican Party and many in the Democratic Party. But the oil companies have been able to block every reasonable plan.
We're about to go through a revolution of consciousness that will result in unbelievable technology. It will revolutionize the world just as the Agricultural, Industrial, and Information Revolution have. Either that or we all die.
Peak oil shouldn't be a problem. And it still won't be if we start approaching the problem logically. Build nuclear plants, and start a gradual shift to a sugarcane ethanol based transportation sector. All other needs for petroleum product can be made from synthetic means such as GM algae production. We could have no need for oil within 25 years. Our energy would be clean and safe. The problem is there's no political will to invest in the infrastructure to make this transition. We're almost actively opposing it. The GOP are profiting heavily from the oil industry and seek tax cuts rather than infrastructure investments, thinking our systemic economic problems are a result of high spending rather than outsourcing all production creating an inability to create revenue based on internal investments. Most of the Democrats are either also either shills for the lobbyists, are to stupid to see the problems, or are too cowardly to say a god damned thing about it. So it'll persist until the problems become really apparent. I don't expect quite the nightmarish apocalypse that most here seem to, but it will likely lead to pretty apparent political and economic instability until the problem becomes so apparent that people can't ignore it any more. It's going to be really rough on developing/transitioning economies.
It shouldn't be a problem, but it likely will be for the very reasons you stated. Building nuclear plants takes a long time, switching infrastructure takes a long time, and both require huge amounts of power. If we wait until the problems become really apparent and the ensuing instabilities materialize, is it possible that it might then be too late? Brazil made the move to sugarcane ethanol and they have had incredible success with it, but they started 30 years ago and they have a lot of land that is suitable for growing sugarcane. France generates 90% or so of its electricity from nuclear plants, even exporting some of their electricity to other EU nations, and they have had very few incidents and accidents with their program. But they began in the late 70's and it took them 30 years to get where they are. If we started right now, today, to make a major shift towards non-reliance on oil it would take us decades to achieve it. Do we have 30 years? And we haven't even started yet....
