Pending Oil Crisis

[Steve-o]

There are few events in history that demand the attention of the entire world and shape it, events like industrialism, WWII and colonialism. But no event is more foreseeable and will be more influencial than the pending oil crisis.

This is serious stuff people.

Modern civilization is built around oil, think about it.

Transport is only possible because of oil, how much of the stuff do you use is actually produced in your own country? Not alot. But then again industries need oil to produce goods. So does mining, farming, tourism, public transport, etc, etc.



Here are some sites with info:

http://healthandenergy.com/oil_crisis.htm

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

http://www.peak-oil-crisis.com/



I really hope that people start thinking about this, talk about this and find alternatives.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

Oh for goodness sake! It already costs me £40 to fill up and it's only a jelly mould!

SAVE_US.SOLAR

 

[C A Iversen]

The true global catastrophe is something I've been saying since I was 8 years old. Even then I knew that world population growth was going to surpass sustainability in my lifetime.

When India and China celebrated their 1 Billionth person a few years ago, I was shaking my head in disbelief. The World's population can sit comfortably at 3-4 billion, but it's exploding still. Oil problems would be much further off if population growth had been much slower.

No-one talks about it on the news, but it's the cause of global warming and oil problems, extinction of many species and just about every major issue on earth.

 

[sanzar]

The true global catastrophe is something I've been saying since I was 8 years old. Even then I knew that world population growth was going to surpass sustainability in my lifetime.

When India and China celebrated their 1 Billionth person a few years ago, I was shaking my head in disbelief. The World's population can sit comfortably at 3-4 billion, but it's exploding still. Oil problems would be much further off if population growth had been much slower.

No-one talks about it on the news, but it's the cause of global warming and oil problems, extinction of many species and just about every major issue on earth. [/b]

Actually they're mutually constitutive. The world population at the end of the 19th Century was about 1 billion, a number it had hovered around for some time. The discovery of oil (and coal before it) however, quickly began to change the world with more effective transportation and industrial techniques leading to an influx of people in cities, freeing up the land in the country side and providing civilisations with easier ways of transporting food. This brought the population up to about 3 billion about half way through the 20th Century and then we had the green revolution (which resulted in huge numbers of high yeilding crops that were assisted by 'petro' chemicals) and then the population went up massively again. So Oil has really been the reason for the population growth throughout the 20th Century and thus is really at the core of all these problems (including global warming)... which means we're kinda of in a **** because there is no serious alternative to oil as it stands and it's only getting harder because the demand for oil keeps rising. Some people have speculated that we've already peeked globally and it's only the ambiguous reserve numbers listed by the OPEC states that have kept it from becoming official and thus sustaining demand. But if we have peeked, then... well I don't think it'll be awefully good for any of us. But you're right, the planet can't sustain 6 billion people, let alone the 9 billion we're predicted to reach before 2030 and oil isn't our only problem either. We're running short on a number of basic resources and both food and fresh water are becoming bigger and bigger issues (we're currently fishing large numbers fish into extinction on the food front for example).

 

[Charles]

Yep. And then you got big assholes cruising around in SUV all around the wold...They say human stupidity is the only thing than can approximate the infinity...

 

[melon]

I realise this would cause numerous problems, but one major thing that should be done is ceasing as much motor racing as possible. After something as major as that is done, then we can go from there.

 

[C A Iversen]

Well, it'd be more than a drop in the bucket. It may only be a cupful but that'd be a helluva start!

 

[Steve-o]

I think oil production has peaked already, petrol is going up every 2nd week here. And it goes up +- 50 cents every time. It went up 55 cents (a 5 cent hike was normal 2 years ago) last night and is around R9.20 a litre now.
In SA most goods are transported by trucks since our railway system is pathetic, so when the price of petrol is raised everything rises with it.
Everything. Oil based products (plastics, paint, cleaning detergents) do a double step up.
The USA used 1/3 of it's wheat production for bio fuel to sustain their energy usage. We're currently in a global food shortage while we still have 'cheap' fuel with a population of 6.5 billion, what's gonna happen when there's less or no oil and the population is almost double that.
What worries me is that the production of any alternative fuels (except solar) still need massive amounts of oil, so we're kinda shooting ourselves in the foot.

 

[dullonien]

Well petrol is at £1.17 a liter here, Diesel at £1.20. It's expected to reach £1.50 by summer. It doesn't harm me as I don't own a car, but it's just getting rediculous.

If we don't get Nuclear Fusion working soon, were f**ked.

But as Charles already said, were not helping ourselves, with 4x4's/SUV's everywhere, people are just plain stupid. C'mon government, Tax em off the road (those who don't need them, that is), do something useful for once.

I can honestly say, I'm a pretty green person at the moment. I don't own a car, have never been on a plane and I recycle about 70% of my waste. The only thing I could do better, would be to switch my TV off at the wall, but I'm lazy!

 

[sambãd5]

yeah, people who dont need a v8/suv/4x4 etc really do drag the enviroment down. but also bad rail (nz atleast) doesnt help. what really gets me is that petrol companies are making record highs, and like said before, quick to rise, but slow to fall.
i wish that we could do something about it too. its not like my country controls oil and can put legislation in to fix the problem, but the countrys that do make oil (ie, middle east) - their entire economy is based on oil. theres not a chance in hell they want it cheaper world wide.

this issue is completely diffrent enviormental issue compared to recycling though dullonien. with recycling there is an obvious answer, which is being herd. i recycle most of what i can. very energy efficent place atm. minimal driving. etc. but industrial pollution is where the problem is. i think in the news the other day they are thinking of making auckland skyrises turn their lights off over night, whilst no staff on, which i think is a great idea.

 

[Laetca]

I think Belgium was the seventh most expensive country to fill your tank in. Venezuela was the cheapest.

The thing I enjoy most is hear the people who own SUV's and other vehicles like that say things like 'but just one four wheel drive car less wouldn't make the difference, what does it matter?' Same goes for people who think buying bio stuff is stupid since it's not healthier (it's not about it being healthier, or tastier, it's about not using chemicals to keep away bugs and fertilizer that's been made in labs), people who complain about wind turbines being placed at two kilomettres from their home because it causes too much noise, people who think recycling is too difficult, and people who spit out their gum on the street.
That last one has nothing to do with it, it just annoys me.

My brother had a brilliant idea to solve both world hunger and overpopulation, his idea was to all convert to canibalism. He was only joking when he said it though Although with rice prices and the like skyrocketing like they are, he might be on to something...

 

[shtove]

Crisis pending? It's already here!

And the people to blame? The US and the Chinese. Full stop.

The US is debasing its currency to avoid paying its creditors, so the creditors try to make them pay by hiking the price of their only product - oil. The US is therefore fcuked, but the rest of the world also pays part of that hike.

China is growing at an insane rate through central command, building useless factories that produce useless products and burning oil in a useless effort to prove that all those people they have are economically useful. And this is based on the idea that over-borrowed Americans and Europeans will keep buying those products.

As a result workers all over the world get below inflation pay rises - and they're still expected to pay their huge mortgages even as the collateral decreases in value and the price of everything else goes up.

Inflation is a form of taxation, which is a form of theft - the greatest heist in history.

Brilliant! Well done to the masters of the universe.

 

[sanzar]

Thieving ******** though they may be, the system is unsustainable in its current form and will collapse unless something is done about it.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

Something definitely needs to be done, things can't go on as they are. Very soon ordinary people just aren't going to be able to afford to fill up.

 

[DC]

it's very much down to OPEC for us..

you people in europe are lucky though, at least you guys have some form of public transportation infrastructure.. in the USA not so much.

 

[shtove]

it's very much down to OPEC for us..

you people in europe are lucky though, at least you guys have some form of public transportation infrastructure.. in the USA not so much. [/b]

It's not down to OPEC - it's down to the gangsters in Washington tearing your dollar to shreds. They are paid by the bankers and they despise you - and yet you keep electing them.

And good public transport isn't about luck - it's a matter of choice. Stop electing gangsters.

 

[DC]

<div class='quotemain'> it's very much down to OPEC for us..

you people in europe are lucky though, at least you guys have some form of public transportation infrastructure.. in the USA not so much. [/b]

It's not down to OPEC - it's down to the gangsters in Washington tearing your dollar to shreds. They are paid by the bankers and they despise you - and yet you keep electing them.

And good public transport isn't about luck - it's a matter of choice. Stop electing gangsters.
[/b][/quote]

gangsters aka democrats in congress and leftist tree hugging morons... oh lets not build a refinery anywhere, that might hurt the ecosystem! them and their bullshit global warming..

at the end of the day it comes down to what OPEC sets the price to and the fact that we are unable to refine the vast amount of crude we have because of the aforementioned super liberal congress.

and as far as public transportation i guess we can all thank the past generations for f***ing that one up for us.. amtrak what a joke!

 

[Laetca]

I disagree on the ecosystem idea, if it can be avoided, why hurt the eco system? And why would the oil crisis be solved by building more refineries? Why not rely on other even more natural sources of energy, like wind, sun, water? I could be mistaken, but aren't there enormous slabs of land in the US that isn't being used because they are in the middle of the desert? Why not install huge solar panels there? Or windmills, they don't bother anyone there. Or collecting organic waste and letting it rot, I recently read that a lot of gas is released that way, which is again a source of energy.
I know it's not a waterproof solution, but at least it would make you less dependent on oil.

 

[shtove]

<div class='quotemain'> <div class='quotemain'> it's very much down to OPEC for us..

you people in europe are lucky though, at least you guys have some form of public transportation infrastructure.. in the USA not so much. [/b]

It's not down to OPEC - it's down to the gangsters in Washington tearing your dollar to shreds. They are paid by the bankers and they despise you - and yet you keep electing them.

[/b][/quote]

gangsters aka democrats in congress and leftist tree hugging morons... oh lets not build a refinery anywhere, that might hurt the ecosystem! them and their bullshit global warming..

at the end of the day it comes down to what OPEC sets the price to and the fact that we are unable to refine the vast amount of crude we have because of the aforementioned super liberal congress.
[/b][/quote]
Liberal state intervention is part of the problem. But conservative state intervention is the other part.

Here's an angry American - a stock market trader with forceful political opinions, who believes in what America is supposed to stand for:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/index.html

He also runs a forum and posts lots of videos - well worth taking a look at, and you can get most of his stuff without subscription.

His take on the outright fraud that is the US financial system is frightening. And you're getting in to terminal trouble because of that fraud, just like the Soviet Union.

Doesn't matter if the bullshitters call themselves communists or free-marketeers - their overriding interest is to manipulate the system to benefit themselves and lay the burden on ordinary people. The presidential election should be dominated by the disgraceful notion of "privatizing the gains, socializing the losses".

It's happening in Europe as well, but the checks and balances seem to have more effect and the attempt to screw everyone isn't as brazen.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

We started blockading oil refineries over the prices crossing £1 a litre!