What do you feel is the future of energy use , do you understand what the term peak oil means , do you feel that our leaders have things under control will we be able to come up with a replacement for oil . If there is a peak of oil production and increasing demand, oil prices will get higher and higher , and we eat oil in another form because all our agriculture depends on oil . Dont you care , do you feel someone else will deal with it or its all going to happen far in the future . How much energy do you use remember this includes things like food which has to travel to you ,is produced using chemicals, is often packed in oil products plastics . It also includes every product you own http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ interesting site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3uvzcY2Xug end of suburbia film
I think I'm fairly green, I don't have a car, I walk or cycle or take public transport most places I need to go. I do have lots of wasteful appliances and don't use low energy lightbulbs because they're too expensive, so I could do a lot more. I'm not that thoughtful about my food miles either, but at least I've become aware of these issues and that's the first step to gradually making a change. If you live anywhere near an urban area, take a look outside day or night and you see thousands upon thousands of people in cars ... you realise that this way of life just can't continue what with the coming peak oil crisis and global warming. I don't know if things can be changed in time. I definitely support more localism and more energy and transport efficiency, but fear there isn't the political will to enforce the kinds of changes that need to be made. It needs radical political change, a minority doing the best they can voluntarily will never make anything happen, but serious discussion of the things we need to do is hardly even on the table of mainstream political debate. I fear we may all be doomed
Pull yourself together Fraser. Course they ain't got it under control, they always have and always will be flying by the seat of their pants. I imagine people somewhere are trying to figure out whats what, I know I haven't got a chance in interpreting the necessary data. I imagine they've got their fingers crossed and hope it works out alright.
In the not too distant future, we will have giant solar panels orbiting around the sun and will have a solar power station on the face of the moon and the energy will be transmitted back to earth as a lazer beam which hits a sensory device which will trigger a central global power station for the world. The smaller power stations will all become obsolete but may serve still for traditional energy which will become much cheaper.
The end of oil will hopefully be a good thing. It will push the big corporations and world governments to actually do something about alternative energy sources and climate change. In the meantime, high oil prices means greater distribution of wealth to the Venezuelan poor....
Do they? Why's that then? As an ex-Greenpeace Frontliner, i'd be interested to hear about that..! I also don't own a car, i ride to work, and use public transport for further travels. But we ain't doomed, not for a long time yet. It's all natural anyway, even if we do destroy anything. It's what nature intended, otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it.
Hear what? If you're referring to the point about high oil prices benefiting the Venezuelan poor, that was less of an environmental point and more one focussed on Venezuelan government politics....
I wonder if that's really happening, if the Venezuelan poor are actually benefitting from this. The Chavez government was recently in favor of the OPEC decision to cut production in order to raise oil prices. I'd be curious to know if Venezuelan oil income actually is benefitting the poor there, if anyone has any links or documentation about it. I'm not anti-Chavez, I'm just legitimately curious. At this point, the US is doing nothing to reduce our dependence on oil. I absolutley have to drive everywhere I go, and public transportation in the US has always been, and still is, a rock-bottom priority. I'd love to be able to get around some other way besides driving-I just can't do it.
www.venezuelaanalysis.com is a good site for statistics and trends in Venezuela. Chavez has been a consistent supporter of high oil prices and it is well documented that he has used these funds to back a broad programme of social reform in Venezuela that has significantly raised life chances, health provision and literacy rates amongst the poorest sections of the population. Have a look at this article for a summary of the range of domestic programmes that the Chavez government has poured oil funds into: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Missions Whilst I accept that internationally Chavez may be a controversial figure, and I am critical of some of the friendships he has made (such as with Iran), as a socialist, I feel that his programme of domestic reform is incredibly inspiring. It is popular amongst the poor majority in Venezuela and has empirically improved the everyday conditions of life there....
Oh right, went right above my head i'm afraid..! It's a genuine question though, meant with sincerity though. I know next to nothing about the Venezuelan government.
Sadly I have to write copious amounts on it for my degree. As much as I enjoy writing about one of the few successes in the history of socialism, all those pages are a depressing thought....
Fair do's, i don't wanna torture you..! :tongue: Bout time i started digging up some info of my own i suppose. That i will do..!
I dont think that anybody is watching peak oil , or anyone who will do anything about it . The oil companys arent their going to ride the wave until they crash , the govenments think too short term , labour recently said that they dont have a population policy for the uk that means that they will let the uk population get higher and higher and further from the possibility of self-sufficiency or near self-sufficiency. basically even if we have the technology to move away from oil by the time we start to see a problem it will be too late to put that technology into place without major problems. I think its likely to effect the third world first as they are poorer this again is going to slow down our response . Imagine a world where every year there is less oil ,add to that natural gas which is also going to go through a peak , we have a economy thats based on growth but I would imagine we will have financial crashes, famines, wars, either over resources or brought on by desperate conditions . And we may be in that period now, we are in Iraq and saudi could that be because we know we are going over the peak and want our military on the ground to control the oil ...and things may be ok now, but as the amount of oil available falls we could have conflicts with say china over oil . Anyway my advice on a personal level is store food, grow food and make plans for possible bad times , and try to re-localise production just in case Im right
