Saturday March 04, 2006

Living with Peak Oil awareness

peakoil.com -> dailykos.com -> new-worlds.org :

Peak Oil refers to a theory advanced by the geologist Dr. Marion King Hubbert that a natural resource like oil follows a bell-shaped production curve over time. When it reaches its peak and begins a downward trend the price and availability of this resource gets out of hand quickly. We'll probably reach the peak within a decade, give or take a few years. Some think we're already there. What does this mean? It means the era of cheap oil is almost over. Humans have taken advantage of a readily available resource that will virtually disappear within a few decades and produced a colossal population boom. What happens to a species that gobbles up everything in the petrie dish? It begins to die off quickly.

When I read all of this I was in a panic. It couldn't be true could it? Panic was followed by rage. How could our leaders be so stupid and short sighted? But then I realized it's not just the current leadership. It's the natural tendency of humanity to take advantage of what nature gives us. We found a way to tap into hundreds of millions of years of energy accumulation and exploit it. Of course it was going to happen. Rage was followed by despair. I have no significantly valuable post peak skills. I'm not a farmer, nor am I a hunter. I work in high tech. Without computers and an ever present stream of electricity required to operate them my ability to build software is pretty useless.

But it couldn't last. I couldn't go on as an emotional cripple paralyzed by my fears- while doing a damn good job of bumming out my family. The final phase for me - or at least the present one - is acceptance, but not resignation. Having a pretty good idea that the current style of modern civilization is in for some major changes, I've taken to cherishing that which I really enjoy about modern mankind's achievements. And the technology! It's only due to the extraordinary bounty of fossil fuels that any of this has become possible.

The question I had to ask myself was, what can I really do to make things better? I'm starting slowly. I bought a Prius (another high tech toy) and now get a great lift out of cracking the 50MPG barrier on a given trip. I'm educating myself on a variety of subjects that could prove useful in a post-peak world. Mostly I'm reading what others who have peak oil awareness and seem to have integrated this awareness are writing.

I feel that the faster the awareness of peak oil is spread, the faster people will get through the paralyzed stage and become part of the solution to whatever degree solutions can be found. I'm even enjoying imagining a new reality in which we don't have this potentially devastating transition in front of us, where life is fresh, energetic, creative and sustainable. Something beyond dog eat dog and whoever dies with the most toys wins. That blessed state may not arrive in my lifetime, but maybe my son and the children of friends and family can begin to see the benefits, or their children. The important thing is to start getting there.

(2006-03-04 11:12:28 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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