I sometimes discuss it with my friends, but I get the feeling they are just humoring me by listening.  Though many of them were grateful when I warned them to fill up their tanks before Katrina hit.  

My sister believes in peak oil.  She went out and bought a hunting knife after I told her about it.  o_O  

My dad actually told me about oil depletion when I was a kid, and warned me about Malthus' Doom.  I was a cornucopian when I was a kid, sure that technology would always save us (and sure I would be part of the solution, probably winning a Nobel Prize along the way  ;-).  Now it's kind of reversed.  I fear the worst, but he doesn't seem too worried about it.  Maybe he figures he won't have to worry about it, since he's almost 70 years old.  Or maybe it's too depressing to consider at this point in his life, when he's living off his pension and has several medical issues typical of old age.  

I've been very fortunate in that I've not had a problem convincing my immediate circle of friends about peak oil.

We have a little food co-op here that gets together monthly to order bulk. I've used this as an opportunity to talk and to pass around books on the subject.

My family hasn't been spectacularly involved in the issue, but they know about it and have not expressed any doubts. I have a niece (whom I showed End of Suburbia) who gave an oral presentation on peak oil in her college class.

The people I hang out with are all expressly liberal or Green. Many of us are cultural dropouts who are well prepared for whatever comes down the pike.

One friend has a sort of paganist camp. She invited me to speak on peak oil (I'm agnostic and have no interest in religions, pagan or otherwise). I sprang at the invite and was received very warmly.

A person in our coop has invited me to give a presentation on peak oil in her history class next semester. I've already talked to the professor about it and he seemed very interested.

Ironically enough, I've met a wall of indifference from our geology department (I work at the local Univ). I tried to stir something up, but their treatment was less than encouraging.

I talk with others, including at work. No one shares my extent of passion, however. I bet a coworker in June 2004 that gasoline would hit 4.00 (in CA) by June 2006. She thought I was ridiculous. Well. we'll see.

I first heard about peak oil in the spring of 1957 when my chemistry professor (in freshman chemistry class at Purdue Univ.) drew a Hubbart curve on the board and told us that we should expect to be affected by peak oil during our lifetimes.  This made a very big impression on me.  I became a chemistry professor myself and have always included a discussion of peak oil in all my freshman classes. I have had about 8000 students in the years since, and unfortunately, almost every one of them has slept through or ignored the information.  I don't know how to get it across.  I guess they just don't want to hear it.

I pick and choose whom I will talk about it with.  I can talk about it with my family, as they know I'm nuts and tolerate me.  They also know I'm sometimes right.  My dad understands the issues, but thinks things will not be as bad as the gloom and doom scenarios.  He believes there are always moderating influences.  But also, it's hard for him to imagine a world utterly different from that he's lived in all these years.  

I am careful about such "hot button" issues at work, where people have no choice but to be there with you & I don't want to be tiresome.  Somehow PO is too close to politics, and therefore taboo.  I have not yet figured why!  I discussed it at length the other day with one of my co-workers who I know has an open mind - he's dealt with me on medical issues where I also have unconventional views (which he largely agrees with).  His reaction was somewhat cool, but I know he will watch and digest what I said, and he may come back later if things seem to be going as I described.  But most people think technology will save the day, if they think about it at all.

But I do sense a growing feeling of gloom about the future from a lot of people.  For most it is un-quantified, but there nonetheless.  People are worried and potentially very angry.  I'm expecting to see some serious political manifestations of this soon, and I'm wondering if there is some way to channel this into doing something productive about energy conservation / alternate sources.  I have no idea how.  Perhaps if it is shown that the Iraq war really was about oil, you might not be looked at like you have a third eye when you talk about PO!

I wrote 2 email letters to friends and family. I also weave in bits about sustainability and oil prices and other little facts that might help them connect the dots.

I discovered Peak Oil when my father-in-law referred me to Matt Savinar's site.

I immediately went into full doom and gloom mode and started trying to tell everybody we knew about it.

The reactions have ranged from belief with amazement to derision and anger.

It is a very difficult topic to approach and now I tend to be cautious about sharing it.

My opinion now is that I have told my immediate circle of family and friends and if they don't believe then that's up to them. I've done my bit, as it were. If they chose to ignore it, then that's their choice.  But I do keep sending my immediate family little snippets of news via email (like last week's news of the Burgan field).  I put "Peak Oil News" in the subject line so that they can delete it if they want to.

I put together a powerpoint presentation a couple of months ago that I presented at work one lunchtime.  The few people that turned up were very sceptical, but a couple were genuinely interested.  I also did the presentation one night in the school hall, but only three people turned up who were all sympathetic to the subject, so it was easy for me.  If anyone would like a copy of my slides, I'd gladly email them to you.  Send a request to duncan (at) clear dot net dot nz.

Obviously there's a reason for your question.  Have you had great success telling people you know?

Somehow I manage to weave it in conversations sometimes, even though I never think I'll be bringing it up ahead of time. Recently I was telling a group of about 10 people about my "interest in this issue of oil depletion" and how how much I'd researched it. They all thought it was plausible, although I don't think it had the immediate impact that would send them home to go read more about it. But as one person was leaving, she asked me what I'm doing with all of this information. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell her that I write for TOD--that I'm working to educate people--because she's at my university and I just can't afford for that information to get around. But every day we get a few new accounts created, and nearly 6000 unique readers a day, so I think there must be growing awareness of the issues.

My biggest problem is reminding myself that Peak Oil is not just an intellectual exercise--that it's going to have a real impact on how I live my everyday life sometime in the near future. It's so easy to forget that.

Having read all the literature over the last few years on PO, there is much to tell family and friends. Unfortunately the ramifications of PO are too horrific to think about for many. It is so far remote from their everyday lives.

People cannot handle any pain or even trivial inconvenience.

As part of a weekend PO exercise. I walked to the mall. I live on top of a large hill and the mall is nearly a mile way at the bottom of the hill. The road is very steep easy walking down. It even has a 3 ton vehicle limit. Coming up is another thing. I carried my groceries in a backpack up it. No car and I am in good physical condition as I walk every day for near an hour. When you take the car it's an easy few minutes drive with your foot on the brake. Coming up most cars have to change down to keep a consistent speed.

I can tell you my muscles and heart were heaving , so I can only imagine what it would be like for some one on the obsese side to do the same. Many of them were walking around the mall eating fried food and burgers.

My point is when the easy life is no longer easy, It will be easier to complain than change. Unfortunately it will take many by surprise.

Our way of life is so oilcentric, it is near impossible for many to think of. It is certainly not warm confortable or cheap. It involves hard work and hard choices.

I drive around in my Toyota Corolla with a sign in my back window:

          Peak Oil
A Turning Point for Humanity

My family all think that science will save us.  <sigh>

Rick DeZeeuw

I bring it up.  Others don't want to even think about it or contemplate it.  I also bring up the environmental issues of burning this stuff, etc.  They don't want to hear about it or talk about.  They just stick their heads in the sand and hope things stay just the way they are forever and ever..

"Oil will never run out."

"Cars don't pollute that bad."

I've spoken with people about this for years. It is such a complex problem most people can't grasp it. Complex in the sense that we can't pin it down to an exact date and there is no clear solution.

The biggest problem with this is human psychology. People are not real good at dealing with very long term problems, especially when they are diffuse. Recall how hard it was for many people to accept that freons were destroying the ozone layer. Recall how people were in a panic to get flu shots last year and then as the peak of the flu season passed we wound up with unused vaccine. How do we ask people to prepare for a time in the indefinite future when we won't have cheap oil?

Another issue is that there is no obvious solution. Historically we've progressed from wood to coal to oil (and somewhat to nuclear). There is no step up available. The next step will be a huge change in how we organize our society. Since we've organized till now based on nearly free energy the change will be painful.

I first realized something was up in the mid 80's after reading lots of books on the environment.  At the time I was just studying what I wanted to at the local big state University.  I already knew a lot of the things that have formed my opinions, that some of you folks have read.

 Right around the beginning of 2002 I finally had a computer again so my reading took the turn back to favorite subjects and bang!

 I have stopped trying to warn my family, They either don't want to see the end ( to old and to set it our ways) or they think as a lot of folks I talk to that ( the world will solve it cause we have to, and look at the technology we have ).

 We are all faced with the Status Quo.  That chunk of human nature that says if it is not broken don't fix it.  We refuse to see the drip in the tub because it has not run over the edge yet!  All the while drip by drip we run up our water bills.