I’ve been watching the Peak Oil debate for a little while now. It seems to me that we’re in quite a bit of trouble, most of which is caused by our almost complete state of denial.
Planet Earth is finite, we only have so much of it. This means that there is a definite upper limit to every resource to be found on our world, in fact the oil production figures are now declining for many oil producers.
There’s a lot of noise about alternative energy sources, which ignores the fact that they’re just not going to cover our energy requirements as they stand. This would seem to mandate an enormous efficiency drive on our part (not just in terms of fuel) and a large change in the way we live our lives.
I personally think this will take the form of more local services and walkable / cyclable communites with much greater use of public transport. The days of the private motor car may well be numbered, oddly enough, nobody seems to want to see that.
Anyway, I found this very enlightening (and worrying) 80 minute film on Google video, it’s called “A Crude Awakening” and it’s a very good summary of the problem.
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