Peak oil crisis just ain’t sexy enough

The question of why climate change is sexy and peak oil is not, is an interesting one. You may all have your own ideas, but today I’ll put down what I think the difference is. I believe the answer lies in the above observation about newsworthiness. Climate change is undoubtedly a wild card. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen. Hence the perennial interest in the weather, as it’s always changing and can bring the unexpected. Add in the possibility of storms and you have the perfect media story. Hence the intense interest in what is quite a scientific and complex debate. But just about everybody who can read has some knowledge of it and some genuine interest. Climate change is like a healthy body being stricken by some wild and unknown disease with potentially fatal consequences.

Peak oil is quite the opposite. The depletion of a finite resource is obvious. Primary school children grasp this concept easily. The consequences of peak oil, at least the immediate ones, are also very predictable — less oil. This scenario is very much like your grandmother passing away. The exact date and illness and her condition at the time can be debated endlessly, but the essential truth and final consequence — your grandmother no longer being around to make pancakes for you or discreetly grabbing a swig of whisky at Christmas — is obvious. You will have to live without her and learn to make your own pancakes!

To confirm my opinion, let’s look at two relatively recent bits of news related to oil. A year or two back, Mexico’s largest oil field, Cantarell, reached peak production. This was significant globally because Mexico was a fairly large oil producer and was also next to the largest oil user, the US. Now both of these countries are going to need to import oil (the US has been doing this for many years now). This piece of news slipped the international media like a well-greased button on a railway line, out of sight with hardly anyone noticing.

ThoughtLeader