[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('venky', 'T')his is what I find sometimes so hard to believe. How can people so well qualified, paid and knowledgable be so dead wrong????

[threadbear]

Hi TP. What are your thoughts on abiotic oil? Complete crap theory, or is there anything to it, in your opinion? And did you listen to Coast to Coast on the radio at night? Betcha did.

[gg3]

Interesting stories, TP. There's something about the idea of a small group of people doing a significant engineering project in the wild, that resonates with me. Though, brave man you are for sleeping in a bag in the open ground, rattlesnakes and all. I would definitely wimp out at that point and get a camper or some other enclosed space.

When our community planning group gets land, we'll have the chance to do something like that, i.e. engineering project in the woods; though hardly as impressive as drilling for oil or mining coal or uranium.

I had an interesting surprise this year.

Me & the folks in the community group are all looking forward to going into the woods and building from scratch; for us this is a major part of our life's purpose, and we are looking forward to the hard work and the long hours. We have tended to assume that "everyone" has the same thing inside themselves, that most people if given the chance would leap for joy at the thought of building their own house and growing their own food. Surprise!, it ain't so.

I discover, mostly by way of hearing it from some of the older folks in the group (50s-60s), that most people really do prefer life in an office cubicle and a house they never modify with their own hands much less build from scratch. I can't wrap my brain around that one. It's like the difference between wild and domesticated, free and not-free. I don't understand...

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'I') discover, mostly by way of hearing it from some of the older folks in the group (50s-60s), that most people really do prefer life in an office cubicle and a house they never modify with their own hands much less build from scratch. I can't wrap my brain around that one. It's like the difference between wild and domesticated, free and not-free. I don't understand...

[NEOPO]

thank you are welcomed but why not stay and help to elevate others?

[mmasters]

Yeah, money masters is a big one, I've pushed it a lot.

So what's next to move onto?

[gego]

So long.

[cynthia]

Disappointed that you are making an exit. I learned much from your posts. Thanks and don't be a stranger.
cynthia

[rabbit_hop]

Hi everyone - this is my first post as a member. I first heard about 'Peak Oil' in the early part of this year when the Independent newspaper ran a climate change special over several days. It struck me that, while climate change is a serious matter and is at last getting mainstream recognition, the implications of PO are possibly even more devastating - particularly as it doesn't yet seemed to have seeped into the wider public consciousness. My view as a newcomer to the subject is that, in spite of the oil industry's hedging and denials, there are just too many respectable experts with reputations at stake (Campbell, Leggett, Deffeyes et al.) involved in proposing and supporting the PO theory for it to be written off as crankery. Since then I've been trying to educate myself on the subject and keep up with developments, by reading forums such as The Oil Drum, Powerswitch and this one.

The more I read about Peak Oil, the more alarmed and worried I become. What is particularly disquieting is the silence on the subject from our leaders, politicians and MPs. Surely, even if peak won't happen until 2025 or 2030, we should be starting to make preparations now, under the guidance and with the help of our respective governments - perhaps starting with a massive public education campaign through the national media? And most Oil Drum posters seem to think that the peak will come much sooner than that.

Then there was the oil price spike in the summer and, from a personal viewpoint, the fact that my gas bills have nearly doubled over the last three years. I live in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a tiny (but paid-off, last year) flat that depends on gas for heating and electricity for everything else. I'm an IT developer, programming financial / banking systems, and possessing skills that have stood me in good stead over the last twenty years or so but which look like being utterly useless five or fifteen years from now - a somewhat depressing thought! Fortunately, I'm single and don't have any dependants.

I'd be grateful for any replies / encouragement from other town-dwellers who may be or have been in similar situations to mine - particularly on the subject of learning new, practical skills for the Energy Descent curve and how to adapt.

Many thanks!

[EnergyHog]

Bankers are the cockroaches of the human race, I'd stick with them if I were you.

[rabbit_hop]

Thank you for the welcome to the forum, EnergyHog. Wish I understood American (?) humour....!

Regards

[Laurasia]

Hello, rabbit_hop. Welcome to the Forum. It's not very pleasant when we first realize the ramifications of Peak Oil, but you seem to be in pretty good shape, having paid off your flat. Getting out of debt will be very important as this situation plays itself out, as the economy of the Western world is based upon fossil fuels. When the fuels run out, the growth stops and the economy tanks. Being in lots of debt, with no job, is not good.

You also mention about the Governments of countries helping out and giving guidance to the people. Well, I don't think it will happen like that. I think the enormity of the situation we face is too much for a PM or a President to admit to. After describing the austerity package that would have to be put in place to avert or mitigate the crisis, the voters would boot them out! So I think it's up to the average person in the street to make their own plans.

Anyway, good luck with your planning...

Regards,

L.

[caliginousface]

Climate change is more devastaing on a global scale, while peak oil, I think, is more devastating to humans. Though if we start lobbing nukes all over the place then it'll be cool too.

Welcome none-the-less!

[rabbit_hop]

Hi again, and many thanks for your constructive comments, Shannymara, Laurasia, caliginousface.

I hadn't come across the term 'permaculture' before, but a web search revealed that there are just a handful of such projects in the UK, of which one or two are in Scotland. The longest established and furthest advanced one is, I think, the one on the Isle of Skye http://rubha-phoil.manvell.org.uk/ . Closer to home is the Life Sciences project at Pishwanton Wood, about 30km from Edinburgh... been past it several times on my bike. The main building is a 'gridshell' covered with turf - see http://vs2.i-dat.org/unstructured02/eco4.html if you're interested. I'm not sure how far they've got with actually growing things, but apparently some farming is planned.

At the moment, as a complete newcomer to any kind of gardening, I'd be quite happy to be able to grow (at least some of) my own vegetables. My block of flats stands in its own plot of about a quarter of a hectare, but nearly all of the available space is given over to car parking. Converting the car park is obviously a no-no while people still have cars... and then there are the Byzantine planning regulations to contend with. Given that the good folk of the town council demand that you jump through a series of bureaucratic hoops in order to get planning permission to do something like repaint your front door a different colour, I can't see this happening very soon!

The only solution then is to move. My two stipulations: the new place has to be a house, not a flat - because I'll no doubt have to make alterations, expand any insulation, and install a wood-stove; and it must have its own garden. It doesn't matter how big or small it is - a two-room cottage would be ideal. At the moment the housing market in the UK has gone into overheat mode. I mean it's just gone daft: first-time buyers are unable to find anything at all to live in unless they borrow five times their salary, up to 125% of the valuation, and repay it over 40 years. Absolutely mad. The smart money's on a market 'correction' - for which read crash - sometime in 2007; and my instinct is telling me to wait until the dust settles before doing anything.

Laurasia, you're absolutely correct in that no-one in government is going to take a lead on the PO issue. I should have realised - of course politicians have this inbuilt myopia that prevents them seeing any further than the next election. And our newspapers - with one or two very occasional honourable exceptions - connive in this, assuring their readers that it is business as usual. How does a newspaper sell impending disaster to a public that is more interested in Brad Pitt's new film or Heather McCartney's divorce papers? To read the British popular press, you would never even guess that we have a problem, aside from the brief lip-service paid to climate change. And yet, and yet, looking to history, when we are told by someone with sufficient authority and gravitas that things are very bad, the public can pull itself together - for example when Churchill addressed the British people during the darkest days of the Second World War. Unfortunately, we don't have any new Churchills on the horizon.

So I'm trying to spread the word, as gently as I can, amongst my acquaintances and friends. Gently, because too much zeal will get me written off as an apocalyptic End Is Nigh nut case, and I don't want to be accused of crying wolf.

In the short term, my Xmas present to myself will be a hurricane lamp, the kind with a tiny stove on the top - so if we lose both gas and electricity for a time, I can still at least make a cup of tea. The autumn has, so far, been quite good to us here in Scotland, with 13°C forecast for Thursday - almost unheard-of for the middle of December.

[Harlequin]

I have posted a little so I figured I should post a little on who I am...Y'know get intorduced as it is...
Okay, I live in Victoria in Australia, luckily one of the wetter parts.
I have two brothers and a sister and I am in a single-mother family.
Right now our house is in pretty bad repair but that shoulde get better now that I'm putting some real effort into it. Oh by the way I'm seventeen years old.
I have been examining these forums for a while now and finally decided to sign up only recently.

Where I live is actuall quite a nice little place that used to be a sheepfarm and orchard, we have about a dozen apple and er "nashee" trees (spelling?) we also have a few plum trees.
Lately we've also been putting soem effort into getting chickens to

My interests include economics (What the hell is up with it by the way?) The environmnt, nature, swordsmanship, anime, literature and computer games....Oh and cooking as well, love my cooking. Unfortunatley I'm not very good with my hands, I'm a bad drawer, modeller and woodworker acording to my school grades.

I must say that the future is looking bleak but I hope I'm ready to face it, or rather I hope I will be ready when it comes.
...erm...any questions?

[coyote]

No questions, Harlequin, just welcome. At your age there's plenty you'll be able build, and you now know more than most of humanity about a tremendously important subject.

Make sure you spend lots of time in the Planning for the Future forum, especially at first. Lots of good ideas in there.

[Carlhole]

I hear there is a God-awful drought in Oz - which is no doubt why you say you're lucky to live in Victoria.

You should post some pics of the place; we here at PO.com will be your skilled hands and remodelling advisors. Just show us the problems and tell us what tools we have to work with!

http://www.flickr.com/

[Bas]

Welcome to the boards ...one question...are you a boy or a girl? I missed that...

PS and happy new year!! it must already be at your place

[greenworm]

Welcome aboard, where you live sounds rather nice. Economy is a false science, notice the principles keep changing based on new initiatives and not necessary new laws. It is designed for power purposes.

[Harlequin]

I'm a male.
Right now I don't have a camera or anything but I'll see what I can fix up to get online.
Also that's why economics interests me, the fact that people could divise such a system that rewards short-term thinking and waste.