I'm sorry, but I must respectfully disagree with you on this. The problem with many people on TOD is that they have a set of preconcieved notions. Whether this was instilled in them via outside influences or listening to someones 'rant', most people hear bad news and witness some supporting evidence and automatically assume the worse.

The search stops there.

On Peak Oil, if they look a little closer and maintain an open mind, they can easily spot hundreds of potential solutions to this liquid fuel crisis. Just because the future doesn't include FFs doesn't mean that in some ways it wont be remarkably similar to today.

Hello fleam,

Now, I say unintentional because I think on an intellectual level most of us understand that easy motoring is not going to keep going indefinately, no matter what kind of weird fuel we come up with, the Earth can't take it. But, the idea of going back to a non-easy-motoring lifestyle frankly scares the holy crap out of modern people. I've lived very very low on the socioeconomic chain, little or no electricity, very few calories, etc., and I still think it's a daunting thought. Especially since my family's poverty was against a backdrop of a society where The Machine was taking care of most of them fine, and at the very least we got to live on the crumbs from the richer ppl's tables. What about a society where everyone's poor in the conventional sense? Most ppl younger than say 40 have never been really hungry, never walked miles daily as a simple process of getting from Point A to Point B, never fished for sustenance or sewed up their clothes to remain decent. The idea of doing so, at a very deep level, scares the hole bejesus out of them. Add to that the brainwashing, and it is deep, that if one does not have a connection to the Internet and lots of electrical stuff in general, one is suffering deeply.

I do believe in Peak Oil, fleam. There is no dispute between myself and the Peak Oil concept. I am also in favor of Peak Oil, too. Humankind doesn't suffer from too little energy, but rather from too much. Humans have modified the Earth in terrible ways and created a mess. There is also a problem of overpopulation, poverty, extreme injustice, exploitation, violence and perpetual warfare on the Earth.

All of these behaviors indicate that Homo sapiens is a self-destructive anti-natural suicidally-inclined animal. In other words: Human nature is the primary problem afflicting the Earth. And ... Peak Oil is a blessing, the real sin is humankind's addiction to oil and all of the other fossil fuels.

I am in favor of ending the oil, electricity, fossil fuel, and technological age. Humankind has already done enough harm, humankind has already done too much harm. Under these circumstances the best choice for the species is for humans to just stop. This generation should make whatever sacrifices are necessary to protect the future health & well-being of humans a century, a millennia from now.

In other words: The American Way of Life, (and all technology and industry), must end. And it will end, too. Whatever we do not voluntarily sacrifice Nature will take away from us in the most harsh and painful manner possible. Humankind's extinction is approching with each passing day, we need to live within the context of the knowledge that all these things are passing away.

This does not mean TOD is in the pocket of the oil co's. I find it really neat that we have so many petroleum industry ppl here, so many hard-science types, it really says something that Peak Oil has been defined and is promulgated by the very people whose livlihood has been milking the oil teat. They know what they're talking about.

TOD is not an oil co. front, the vast majority of ppl here are not oil. co shills, and at least at the conscious level, none of us want the impossible, earth-killing oil party to keep going. It just seems like that at times, especially to a new person.

The Oil Drum seems involved in a perpetual lobbying effort on behalf of the oil industry. The prominent voices of the Peak Oil effort have explicitly lobbied on behalf of the oil industry. There are far too many people here who have their careers, income, wealth, investments and retirement tied up in the success of the oil industry.

In other words: The Oil Drum is not an objective source regarding Peak Oil, the oil industry, environmentalism or geopolitics.

There is plenty of useful and relevant and technically precise information at The Oil Drum. But the price of all this good information is a perpetual lobbying and public relations effort on behalf of the oil industry.

And one more thing: Matthew Simmons is no hero. He is a lobbyist for the oil industry. He is not beyond using fear to provoke the general public into sacrificing ANWR and the Gulf Coast on behalf of the oil industry.

Environmentalists should keep these facts in mind when seeking to respond to the Peak Oil problem. The primary oil-industry proponents of Peak Oil are all explicitly anti-environmental and pro-pollution. They are also pro-consumerism and extremely nationalistic (in the worst possible way). They are often pro-militaristic and they do not particularly care how many impoverished people are killed in the process of seizing and exploiting the natural resources of other nations.

In other words: The Peak Oil movement behaves very much like an enemy of environmentalism.

I wish it were not so.

David Mathews
http://www.geocities.com/dmathew1