This is a guest post by Debbie Cook.

The failure of mass media to cover the peak oil story has been well documented and discussed on the pages of The Oil Drum. As recently as May 3, Kurt Cobb presented the challenges in marketing “peak oil” to main stream media. His article and subsequent comments are worth re-reading. Many of us believed that if we could just get the stories published, we’d be on our way to addressing our energy challenges. As a testament to the strength of The Oil Drum and its community, the very next day Peak Oil Entrepreneur responded with a marketing plan for peak oil. Seemingly all that is needed is money and a willingness to “get our hands dirty with unclean business.”

Failing to attract sufficient budgets for such a campaign, many of us have plodded on in our individual ways. We’ve met with editors/reporters/publishers. We’ve had our op-ed pieces rejected. We’ve assembled media panels at conferences. Are we making a difference? If we are, how would we know?