[thuja]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', '
')I tend to think that the more people know the better. If the majority of the public is unaware of what is happening, it will make navigating the crisis that much harder. People will flail about in confusion and bewilderment. If people know, they will make personal decisions that may soften the blow of collapse for themselves and others.

However, if what you're hoping for is for the planet/nature/people to get over this crisis with as little damage as possible. I think the best thing you could hope for is very high depletion rates as we slide down the peak. This would arrest the machine in its tracks.

[Liamj]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', ' ') I hope larger groups of people begin to learn about PO- but I am fearful of the reaction that is likely to occur on a large scale. It won't be--

"Oh lets learn to conserve, do with less, stop consuming as much and plant veggies inthe backyard." It will be, "Drill a hole anywhere that has oil, mine coal as much as possible and build them fricking nuke plants!"
..

[OneLoneClone]

Wanting to keep Peak Oil information from the people is completely elitist and undemocratic.

It is also stupidly selfish, in the most egostical way. Seeing all of the people who are not aware of peak oil as panicky 'useless breathers' is pretty ugly. Some of those people might have excellent ideas or skills to bring to bear on the problem.

I guess some of the die-off crowd thinks mass ignorance of peak oil increases their own survival chances. Maybe they are right.

Ugly thoughts for an ugly situation.

DNA always has been a selfish molecule, I guess.

[SurvivalAcres]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e will then be forced with powerdown instead of trying to put off the inevitable for a couple more decades.

[clifman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Liamj', 'Y')es, it might happen that way, but only in the case that the education effort (and representative democracy) fails.

[Jenab6]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('marko', 'I')t is grim to wish that human misery might come more quickly but maybe the best hope for the long-term survival of our own species and of others as well.

[medicvet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('grabby', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('marko', 'I') am with you, Thuja. There is going to be a mad scramble as the awareness dawns on people and probably a lot of environmental destruction, coal burning, etc., no matter what. But the less that capital is redirected into new energy regimes in advance of the crisis, the more likely the crisis is to diminish capital.

It is grim to wish that human misery might come more quickly but maybe the best hope for the long-term survival of our own species and of others as well.

[Eddie_lomax]

Someone please explain to me why this is not the most likely outcome of peak oil? Because frankly that's the way I see it too. That doesn't mean that I am not trying to prepare best I can..it does mean however that I am not sure how much good it is going to do in then end. If it weren't for my children, I wouldn't even see the point of it at all..but I do need to give them something..

I feel very bad that we have given our children such a messed up world. [/quote]

Can't argue with a collapse, we are definately in overshoot, but if civilisation falls apart in the next 20 years after peak oil I reckon it'll have to be due to the financial system collapsing instead of energy supplies diminishing.

Getting back to the original topic, I don't think peak oil awareness is a bad thing, but I do believe it won't make an effect. Mainly because the mass of the population won't understand/care and will just grasp onto the first bad idea a politician hands out as a "solution".

As an example there are so many people I've met who never think about the future - I remember someone telling me that LPG will be the fuel of the future because its cheap... (I like in the UK, but no one seems aware that the north sea is depleting so fast). Even our goverment are clueless, just two years ago natural gas was the way forward - doh!

To sum it up, if most of the population have their cheap consumer goods they don't care about anything else, when peal oil takes their cheap goods away will it be too late anyway ?

[Liamj]

Even if rapid collapse is unavoidable, "peak oil awareness" (which i suspect and hope is a red pill for the ecological worldview) does and will have benefits at every stage, assuming you believe humans act logically or magnaminiously at least some of the time. Better information increases chances of better decisions.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')irst of all, people will become aware sooner or later whether they like it or not.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')irst of all, people will become aware sooner or later whether they like it or not.

[AmericanEmpire]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')omeone please explain to me why this is not the most likely outcome of peak oil? Because frankly that's the way I see it too. That doesn't mean that I am not trying to prepare best I can..it does mean however that I am not sure how much good it is going to do in then end. If it weren't for my children, I wouldn't even see the point of it at all..but I do need to give them something..

[zoidberg]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AmericanEmpire', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')omeone please explain to me why this is not the most likely outcome of peak oil? Because frankly that's the way I see it too. That doesn't mean that I am not trying to prepare best I can..it does mean however that I am not sure how much good it is going to do in then end. If it weren't for my children, I wouldn't even see the point of it at all..but I do need to give them something..

[thuja]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('zoidberg', '
')Besides peak oil isnt the end of the world. Its the start to a new chapter. It may be a depressing chapter, but still 500 years from now this may be a instructive history lesson to our descendant's hydrogen/fusion powered society.

[Liamj]

Thats why sitting back and watching it happen isn't actually an option. Sure things will almost definately get worse as we currently value things, but theres worse and then theres apocalyptic, and our current trajectory leans towards the latter. Saying "well if i can't have popup toasties i wont play" does nothing for current or future life, and you'll kick yourself when your feared future demonstrates the difference between a boring diet and famine, between a semi-functional democracy and totalitarian fascism.