[Madpaddy]

Azreal,

That was a great post.

I'm doing what I can here, writing articles for local newspapers etc. However, much as I would like to run for public office, my being an officer in the military precludes me from ALL political activity.

I suppose the general populace won't bother with PO until they are freezing their asses off this winter. Hopefully, when the problem becomes impossible to ignore, TPTB will take action that will improve and not exacerbate the situation.

[marko]

It's really a question of priorities and where you think is the best investment of time and energy. Do you concentrate on preparing for the wrenching changes that are certain to come and saving yourself and those close to you from doom? Or do you try to convince the government to take action?

As Azreal pointed out, governments respond only to large and well-funded interest groups. What would be needed to move US government policy would be an interest group large and organized enough to counter rich campaign contributors and big corporations, including the corporate-controlled media, which now essentially determine policy (with a few cultural bones thrown to the religious right).

The difficulties in creating such an organization are that

1) Most people do not want to hear about peak oil.
2) Most people's opinions are shaped by the corporate media.
3) The corporate media, with an interest in maximizing short-term profit,
will make the idea of peak oil look ridiculous or dangerous as soon as it
starts to threaten those profits by actually reducing consumption. Even
if media corporations are open to the concept, their advertisers will
force them to demonize it. Republicans will paint peak oilers as
enemies of America, and the media will play along.

I just don't see much possibility for grassroots organizing in this environment. You may have some initial success in bringing together the people who are not committed to denial, but as soon as your organization becomes really threatening, the demonization will begin and people will be slamming doors in your face or even reaching for their rifles in some parts of the US.

If you think that this is the best investment of your time and energy, by all means, pursue this course.

For my part, however, I will be working to try to save my own skin and the skin of those I care about. I'd frankly rather stay below the radar and not do anything really threatening to the powers that be so that I have a better chance of being left to go about my business.

[whereagles]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('whereagles', 'M')ankind has only left the jungle 10 000 years ago. That's too little time to become truly adult.

[retiredguy]

Azreal is dead on. As individuals, our communications to politicians, reporters, etc. will be largely ignored. I've been trying that route and the silence is deafening.

They can't and won't ignore an organization that has the potential to garner the support of a good chunk of the voting public.

The crux of the problem is our message. If the message is that our only hope of survival is to live sustainably, we are not going to attract much support from the masses.

As energy prices continue to soar, the masses will demand that the government do something. They will look to alternative energy sources simply as a way to enable them to continue what they are doing now.

The only hope I see is that we target young folks, providing them with a vision of a sustainable lifestyle that is more palatable than the one the mass media is selling them now. Very tall order.

This was attempted on an informal basis during the 60s, and it did resonate with a lot of us who were young at the time. However, the alternative lifestyle presented certainly wasn't sustainable, and, er, at least a chunk of it was devoted to ingesting illegal substances.

But there were some serious folks who created communes and some of these persist to this day.

[FairMaiden]

Governments work for corporations - not citizens (see "The Corporation" movie, its worth it). So as long as oil is flowing at a VERY high profit margin, there is no need for anyone to rock the boat.

We need to tell everyone around us - they will be our support in this. No need to "freak" ppl out. Some ppl like to get to the meat of an issue while others prefer baby steps. Focus on the benefits - if we become less dependant on oil, we save alot of money. If we save alot of money we can pay off our debts and our mortgages. Why do we need to do this? Have we ever seen a time in history w/interest rates this low for this long (answer: no). So we need to be prepared for high interest rates. We need to prepare. I think its way more valueable to focus on that then trying to sway media or government.