Another great post on a great site. When I was a student at University of Alberta (Edmonton) in the late 1960s a chemistry professor said to a group of people in an elevator "They shouldn't be burning petroleum and gas for heating, they should save it for synthetic chemicals - it is too precious to use simply for keeping houses overheated". From that day on I became aware of the limits to fossil fuel resources and have been following information on the ultimate depletion of these non-renewable resources. TOD is the best site I have found. The regular writers explain things in a manner understandable by most and are providing an invaluable resource for the general public. Thank you all for the many, many hours you are spending to discover the truth as much as possible when much of the needed data is hidden by industry and government or buried in hard to access resources.

My self, I have started to understand much of the complexity of the problem and am trying to share this with friends and acquaintances. Even a few years ago such conversations would be met with blank looks and a polite (not always) change of subject. There has been no greater challenge to civilization since that faced by man during the last ice age. At least during the ice age people had the option (in theory at least) to try to move to milder climates. There is no such escaping the reality of the evolving energy problem.

I am not convinced, however, that people will rise to the occasion soon enough to avert crisis of catastrophic proportions. Few politicians and governments will be willing to put in place major conservation measures and massive investments in new infrastructure and renewable energy programs in a timely manner. Their rational will be that such measure would put them at an economic disadvantage that would allow other nations to plow ahead with growing economies and gain economic and military advantage. Their mantra is that if they don't use the energy others will. It is this kind of fear that prevents needed measures happening until it is maybe too late to head off complete disaster. Never has there been a greater need for international cooperation. This problem can not be solved on a stand alone basis.

However, I am overall an optimist and feel we must keep spreading the word and hope that enough people become informed soon enough to force through the measures needed.

Please continue the great work and thanks again.