peak oil is upon us

have you heard the term peak oil?

within the last few days representative Bartlett from Maryland gave an hour long presentation about peak oil to the House. After reading the full transcript I must say it is a very good introduction to the concept.


I have been learning about and tracking peak oil for well over a year now.

here is the basic idea: peak oil is the point at which half of total world reserves are used up. after this point oil becomes more expensive because the second half of these reserves are more costly and difficult to pump. that's it. what's the big deal?

because so much in our so-called advanced society depends on cheap oil there are manifold consequences. rise of gas prices, increasing prices of goods that are shipped long distances (almost everything), difficulting if not impossibility in growing the economy without cheap oil, political/military posturing for remaining energy resources, yayaya...

i will leave this up to others to go into detail, but the point is we are truly on the cusp of a new era. we must change ourselves; our habits, assumptions, and lifestyles to accomodate this new reality. this is not business as usual.

this transition need not be very painful, yes we will have to sacrifice, but this is exactly the kind of thing which could pull communities together.

then what should we do?

use less energy, conserve resources, retrofit your house, learn permaculture principles, become a community participant