<Oil (CLZ07) settles above $93...and in the next month...? The Oil Drum DrumBeat: October 30, 2007>

105 comments on Another Inconvenient Truth - A presentation you can download

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Clint on October 29, 2007 - 11:49am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The problem with an alarmist approach is it will get you ignored by the mainstream. If the purpose is to reach as many people as possible, it is best to break it to them gently and avoid being accused of "scaremongering".

Clint

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TrueKaiser on October 29, 2007 - 12:46pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Better to be truthfull up-front and be called a fool then to be lynched later when the public realizes you lied.

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Gail the Actuary on October 29, 2007 - 1:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The End of Suburbia film is difficult to take, because it lays out the problem so clearly.

It seems like a person can take a slightly less extreme approach, and get to the same result. The discussion after the presentation can go as far as the audience and presenter are comfortable.

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TrueKaiser on October 29, 2007 - 3:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

yes but neither does it suger coat it by dismissing logical outcomes. For example it doesn't really go into much depth as to what would happen to the rest of the economy as a whole when the suburbs have to be abandonded, though at the same time it doesn't go on and say that won't happen because (insert wishfull thinking here).

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Bandits on October 29, 2007 - 10:54pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Yes it's all just rhetoric.
Who here has any inkling of what the world would like like the day after everyone became peak oil aware?

I'll tell you what won't happen.
Everyone will immediately begin to conserve.
There won't be any runs on gas stations, banks or food outlets.
Business will continue business as usual, they will look for and immediately purchase alternative energy supplies.

There will be plenty of alternative energy machines for everyone.
There will be no hoarding or panic.
The economy will remain stable, consumer goods will remain in good supply and price stable.
Governments will be lauded for their honesty.

I'll give you a hint of what will happen though.
Those able to, will do what every one of us on TOD who has accepted the consequences of peak oil, has been doing over the last few years.

If everyone all of a sudden began their own mitigation attempts like we have...............

That is why governments don't come clean. What have they to gain? Nothing in the short term and the long term is not a concern to them.

It is best to dig the well before you are thirsty.

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ResponsibleAccountable on October 31, 2007 - 1:09am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

but i don't think you get to the same result

you get to a place where a raised number of people think "hey there's some sort of issue here... but heck, i need to sort out the bills and i have work on and... yeah - i'll think about this when i get the time..."

I think people who favour this less extreme approach often tend to be a smarter than average, thoughtful and reflective. Understandably they project such a mindset onto others, and assume that if they present a compelling argument others will think it through like they did... but we just don't live in that world. Possibly some societies. Not the US. People are trained throughout their lives to a completely different style of discourse, and they filter any communication through this life's experience.

Think of all of the political policy issues that seem just self-evident in terms of their common sense - you look at the evidence, and OBVIOUSLY the decision should be X, but instead it's Y.

And just how well did the reflective, polite, reasoned argument work out for the Global Warming debate?
--
All these memories will be lost in time
like tears in rain

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Clint on October 29, 2007 - 3:32pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I do not think so much of myself that people will just blindly follow me. I will have a hard enough time of convincing people of the problem, let alone deciding on a solution.

The goal should be to educate and make suggestions, let people decide for themselves what should be done. There are specialists who excel in this sort of thing. The relevant subject is called Risk Management.

I do not purport to be any kind of leader, but I have studied some basic principles. I certainly don't need to worry about being lynched.

Leadership may carry risks, but it is what we need now more than anything else.

Clint

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oilmanbob on October 29, 2007 - 3:40pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

TrueKaiser,
It is your opinion that the alarmist approach is the true approach. I think that predicting the ecological collapse and extinction of the planet is more than a little overdone and further that it will let many people ignore the true situation which is dire, but not unimproveable. I think that within 10 years the USA will be able to produce and buy approximately 40% of the current oil consumption in the US and keep that up for the foreseeable future.

So if a family is prudent and switches their personal transportation to electric or hybrid, gets solar or microhydro or persnal wind, and cuts consumption through insulation and more reasonable size living areas they may be in very good shape.Get out of debt.

And don't forget to produce. Ther's going to be a lot more jobs designing and installing small scale solar systemsthan as a manager for a retail store . Turn your flower beds into your greengrocer. Make friends with your neighbors-they're your best bet to carpool with to the grocery or a local job. Who's going to watch your property when the cops have reduced patrols? And I guarantee they are a lot more fun than watching Nancy Grace or Glen Beck trash mouth another group of people. Tjhis is westexas'ELP program, economise , localise, produce, and it makes good sense.

Bob Ebersole

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Bandits on October 29, 2007 - 11:35pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Probably when Reader's Digest does a story we will know the word is out.

Has anybody submitted or is considering submitting a story to RD?

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Gail the Actuary on October 30, 2007 - 9:29am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

That is an idea! A person would have to figure out a way to frame the story for the masses.

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105 comments on Another Inconvenient Truth - A presentation you can download

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