The Oil Drum

236 comments on DrumBeat: February 9, 2008

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jokuhl on February 9, 2008 - 1:51pm

Reno;
I attended a Peak Oil Meetup last night (4 in attendance), and in thinking about what kinds of messages might catch the ear of diff't parts of the public, I came up with the thought that Pushing 'Peak OIL' as a concept, might be a lot like 'Pushing a Rope'. The rope may very well need to be moved, but if pushing at one end isn't having the desired effect, how can we pull at another end instead? This is to say that those groups who are working to teach Farming and Gardening and Permaculture are pulling, and they are working on the same rope, but that end of it is not called 'Peak Oil'.

In case this concept is still vague, I guess my own challenge right now is to identify the preparations , skills and assets that I can possibly envision as critical elements of an 'oil-restricted' situation, and look at how to get them going, without necessarily focusing on 'Peak Oil' as the Standard to march under, even if it's part of my thinking while doing so.. In a way, it's like telling people that if they don't eat, they'll starve.. so would you name a restaurant 'Starvation'?

What are the tools that a household will want first thing tomorrow morning to get by if your town is suddenly 'Capetowned'? What does a city NEED to function, and which parts of that (which Silver BB's, that is..) do we already know will help replace the systems now made possible by these gushing rivers of Gas, Diesel and #2 Heating Oil, etc.?

Hope that makes some sense.. I've got a 4yr old vying for attention. Her turn now. Good Hunting!

Bob

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Dryki on February 9, 2008 - 11:18pm

those groups who are working to teach Farming and Gardening and Permaculture are pulling, and they are working on the same rope, but that end of it is not called 'Peak Oil'.

Peak Oilers are well represented in the current Cumberland County Master Gardener program. Getting in is reasonably competitive; we were selected.

How we feed ourselves without fossil fuels, fertilizers and inputs is explicitly part of the program - clearly front and center in the lead instructor's mind. I'll have to ask him how far that understanding has penetrated into the Ag/Ext services at UMaine.

I do think there is a groundswell - not so much about peak oil as about resource depletion and who profits/who pays more generally - that pits the local activists against the corporate piranhas. If the usual 98% remains uninvolved it will go badly. But the current Maine budget crunch, where every week seems to see revenue projections fall another $100 million, is going to open new possibilities. Not necessarily good ones - think Shock Doctrine.

cfm in Gray, ME