[traz]

For the past week roughly, I've been surfing the net, reading these boards, reading my several books on self-sufficiency (OMG how much LEARNING I have to do), talking to others (not that they've been listening), and having nightmares about Peak Oil. I have gone to the depths of my fear over this, to some sort of acceptance.

But now I find I'm becoming TIRED of reading about it. Perhaps I'm becoming desensitised? Perhaps just overwhelmed and helpless? Maybe a bit of both?

Part of me is now thinking that maybe things really WILL work out for us (although I know a big part of me says that that's just postponing the inevitable), but I am well aware that if I adopt this way of thinking it may quite possibly be at my (and my family's) peril.

Anyone else feel like this?

[clover]

I think it goes in cycles. A lot of people work themselves into a lather for the first few weeks/months, then burn out on it for a while. After some time, one seems to either bury it and attempt to return to "normal living", or else settle down and think of ways they can start adjusting their lifestyle- paying down debt, planting a garden, etc.

[rostov]

Yup. Part and parcel of life now.

Now concentrating thoughts on how to generate power from zombies.

[traz]

Well at least we'll have Soylent Green for food! LOL

Thanks for the replies... I must keep in "PO reality" mode and chip away at all those self-sufficiency things I need to know about.

[clover]

It's easy to read threads here and become paralyzed- "But I don't have 20 grand to buy a farm- what am I supposed to do???" "omg my neighbors own three SUVs; I'd better buy some guns!" etc.

You don't have to sell all your earthly posessions and move the family to Montana... start small. Save more, cook dinner at home instead of eating out and paying with a credit card. Shop at the farmers market instead of buying wilted import produce from the grocery. Meet your neighbors, plant a garden. Do something concrete, instead of just wading through bell curve charts and depressing conspiracy books. You'll feel better.

[traz]

Thanks Clover. Yeah I have started my own vegetable garden and have a compost bin. I know how to make my own bread (but from supermarket products). I love to knit and crochet (not that that's gonna help much though). Over the past couple of years I decided to make a few changes to my life out of concern for the environment and to get away from consumerism, which is sickening the hell out of me. I never read the newspapers anymore and keep away from the TV as much as possible.

Having one-year-old twin boys we never eat out... we can barely afford to rent this place actually. But we definitely spend a lot on stupid, avoidable things.

[JoeCoal]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('traz', 'I') love to knit and crochet (not that that's gonna help much though).

[gg3]

Emotional homeostasis. The human organism is homeostatic; most variations in input levels eventually normalize. Think of the way your eyes adapt to darkness or bright light. Same thing for your feelings.

You're in a dark room and go outside: Yow!, it's bright!, ouch, hurts your eyes. In a few minutes your eyes adapt and everything looks normal.

You're living a normal life and read about the resource and climate crises. Yow!, end of the world!... but after a while your emotions adapt to the new information and everything feels normal.

The evolutionary survival value of this is, you can't function when you're in a state of high stress, but you can function while you're calm. However, don't let the feeling of "back to normal" lull you into apathy. Reason it out: what is the world facing, what's happening now, how much time do we have, what should you do to prepare and adapt? Then make a plan and follow through, and do not let momentary good news digress you.

The times we are living in are a real Darwinian challenge. Not "social darwinism," which is psuedoscience, but Real Darwin (TM): our species has to adapt to an entirely new set of circumstances, and as with any other species, behavioral adaptation counts for as much as or more than genetic adaptation. So adapt your behavior and live to tell your grandchildren. Or don't adapt, and some day in the distant future, an archaeologist will shake his head and say "oh well." Those are the choices. There's more than enough work to do from here to there. Now start making your plans and doing the work.

[bart]

Since learning about PO about three years ago, my concern has followed a Bell-shaped curve. Now I'm not particularly worried about my own fate. The problem is solvable, I believe, for countries with social cohesion. It will be a rough ride but it doesn't mean chaos.

What worries me:

1. The logical response to peak oil will be increasing use of coal. Which will seal our doom with global warming.

2. Poor, dysfunctional societies which will suffer the most from the high price for oil and other energy.

3. A nationalistic, militaristic response to energy shortages. Wars - the perfect way to waste what energy remains.

I believe even less now in the survivalist scenarios than I ever did. The problems will be economic, political and environmental, I think.

[shakespear1]

I find that the problem is not "desensitization". As I look around I see that most people I run into simply can not conceptialize the issue and do not see practical steps to take to move toward a solution. The melange of news, info, dis-info coming at them simply confuses them. The problem will simply hit like a tsunami and then all will need to deal with it.

Having read the transcript of how how Bush and Blair discuss problems I have no confidence that these men will move the world toward solving problems we face.

The positive of all this is that WE CAN do something. Do the little things. Don't burn trash, drive less, discuss the issues with the young, etc.

[spudbuddy]

I remember back in 1980 the big issue was cold war arms proliferation (and look what happened with that.)
Until the end of the decade, it was right there in my face.
Not that this issue has gone away. You learn to live with it, through all its changes.

I find what helps immeasurably is to connect up peak oil to all its siblings - the entire neocon family.
It is rather a slow and ponderous investigative process, but really not so very much different than the age of enlightenment that began in the 1960's.

History is a wonderful tool: when not engaged in useless memorization of names, dates and conquests (learned by rote) it is really just the story of what people did, and probably why - and defuses this rampant and pervasive "here and now" tendency so prevalent in today's pop culture.

Although many appear to be waiting impatiently for the big bright glamorous "big fix" it will no doubt become apparent at some time that it is really uncountable little shifts that people make in their lives that can add up to something that actually makes a difference.
Will it be enough? Who knows?

We have apparently morphed into a collection of societies that demand guarantees. One could argue that such societies are rather philosophically weak. One could also argue that it is indeed hard times that toughen up the philosophical fiber, so to speak.

It's not like humanity hasn't demonstrated that in past times they have collectively succeeded in overcoming incredible obstacles.

It indeed starts with a learning curve - there is nothing elitist about this issue, and once this shifts into an everyday fact of life for the majority, public will takes over and demands become addressed.

Much of the major issues surrounding Peak Oil were being discussed and written about 3 decades ago. Nobody really paid much attention then - that will not happen this time.

I do admit - an awful lot of what I hate about modern corporate trends will not survive energy scarcity.
I'm looking forward to alternative arrangements.
Any doomer, believing in the utmost worst of human nature, will automatically conjure up visions of chaos and anarchy.
I think we deserve a little more credit than that.

Otherwise - we could have just rolled up the carpet round about the time of the Cuban missile crisis....

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('spudbuddy', ' ')
Otherwise - we could have just rolled up the carpet round about the time of the Cuban missile crisis....

[Pops]

Hi Traz, I agree with others, give it a little time to sink in. The ramifications and interconnections are simply too huge to swallow all at once.

My perspective is this is going to be an economic crisis over the medium term, so for example, growing a garden is good because it stretches your food dollar – not because the shelves are going to go barren overnight.

Knitting and sewing patches on the kids clothes is a good thing to learn because it stretches your clothing budget – not because cotton/polyester production will cease next week.

IOW, think about ways you can reduce your expenses to compensate for the rise in the cost of just about everything as the price of oil increases – not how to escape from the rampaging hordes. And on the flip side examine your source of income for its vulnerability to higher oil prices and think of ways to diversify – And I’m not talking about learning to knap flint arrowheads .

I mean unless you are a glutton for punishment like me, after you get the gist of what is going on there is really no use spending much time reading about the intricacies of exploration, field by field decline rates or whether or not this or that famous name knows. What we do each day is like watching a boxing match and every little news article prompts a thread asking the question, was that it, was that the knockout punch!

You’ll know the effects of PO exactly at the same time as the most widely read aficionado will – when it hits you in the pocketbook.

[Geko45]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rostov', 'N')ow concentrating thoughts on how to generate power from zombies.

[rostov]

Actually, if it takes us this amount of time to get used to the idea, what is the amount of time it takes for the sheeps (those who resist the idea of PO, or the 95% of the population we struggle against to bring this idea of PO to) to accept PO?

Rather, how long would it take the world to understand and react to it?

That's the fear that I have, and that's the advantage I see ourselves having right now.

[gg3]

Re. Bart re. survivalism no longer:

If you believe we're heading toward a scenario that involves increased use of coal and a major eco-splat, that's all the more reason to get with others, form community, and cooperate to assure that your memes make it forward to the next generation in an organized manner.

Evolutionary history shows that humans do best to meet crises by cooperating with other humans. Few are those who make it all by themselves, and prudence indicates it's best to not count on being one of those.