[Princess]

I was so depressed after finding out about PO. Part of the depression was from Hurricane Katrina. It got better once I started doing something toward surviving. Buying and reading books on gardening. Researching how people lived in the 17th & 18th centuries. Teaching myself about herbalism. Learning to create at home the foods I normally buy at the store. Learning to be satisifed at home instead of driving (I'm still working on this one). While I'm still afraid of what the future brings, I'm feeling better about surviving it.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chaparral', 'W')here instead of a fast merciful dieoff we gorge upon what's left of our future by putting the coal into the atmosphere, turning the last of the topsoil into E85 and scavenging the last of the semi-intact ecosystems of the world for oil palm plantations and biomass fuel? We convert the planet into an 8000 mile diameter version of Easter Island?

[Ludi]

I would say I'm less doomerish now than I was at some other points.

But I still don't understand people who say they are looking forward to it. I don't understand looking forward to everyone becoming poor and desperately flailing around trying to find a scapegoat or some way to "fix" an unfixable problem. I don't see a single thing in that worth looking forward to. Maybe it's the young who are looking forward to it assuming they will live through the flailing period and get to see some kind of new paradise emerge on the other side. Well, good luck on them living another 50 - 100 years.

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KhanCEO', 'I') dont understand anyone that is looking forward to this new lifestyle of hard to get energy. As of right now I'm not only trying to figure how to live after this mess but to attempt to NEVER garden or digging ditches.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Vexed', 'I') just shoveled 600 sq/ft of top soil, removing more than 4 large dumpsters full of weeds, debris, and various-too-ugly-to-describe insects. I didn't have to do it. I could have made someone else do it. Really easily. But hell with that. I did the job in three 8-hour days of sweat soaked pleasure in 85 degree weather. My abs are like steel.

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou make someone else do it, they'll take six days, leave most of the weeds just covered in dirt, and half the debris will be beside the dumpster or on the neighbors fence, instead of in the dumpster.

[Taskforce_Unity]

The more i know, the exponentially better life gets.

The point is that peak oil disrupts your frame of mind and that some people adapt to another frame of mind. This takes a lot of time, and cause much unrest, during those switches you don't know anymore what to life for, there is no "goal" anymore. You have to form a new goal, when this goal is there you can be more positive again. For some that may be survival skills, for some that may be exploring the issue and see what happens for others this is creating awareness. You can use peak oil in your frame of mind, it is consistent with your world view now.

You create a condition in which your emotions can fit, which gives you a more pleasant feeling.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Taskforce_Unity', '.')..You create a condition in which your emotions can fit, which gives you a more pleasant feeling.

[The_sky_is_falling]

I agree that the more I learn about this issue the more doomerish I become. However, I also see PO as something that may actually save the planet. You see, PO is a big problem for human civilisation as we know it but if it stops the relentless rape and pillage that we as modern human civilisation are inflicting on mother earth then I think it will be a good thing.

Sure there are risks that PO will be a long slow decline in which human civilisation will be able to adapt and utilise coal, tar sands and nuclear power to maintain some semblence of an economy and civilisation. This scenario would be disastrous as it would result in the exponetial release of CO2 which, put politely, would totally f$%k our planets climate system!

I am very concerned about PO for the future of my family and friends (and myself) however GLOBAL WARMING is a far bigger problem for mother earth and all its creatures than Peak Oil. GW if we are able to continue as is, is likely to become a spiralling catastrophe in which our planet could concevably end up like Mars.

I am hoping that PO stops the rot so to speak and I am also hoping that in the future, post die off, there are enough good people to have the sense to live with and not against nature. The indiginous communities of the world had it right.

[MD]

As the days go by, I do become more doomerish.

PO itself stopped adding to my doom outlook some time ago though.

It's all the related issues that are swinging my doom meter to the limit these days.

[Laurasia]

I think I have become more doomerish the more stuff I have learned, but I'm no longer suffering from blind panic and lack of sleep like at the beginning. I think I realized I couldn't keep up that kind of attitude without losing my sanity. For me the antidote has been action, or failing that, planning. And each new earth-shattering piece of news has just acted like a goad to spur me on. I now think about Peak Oil just about all the time, and see everything through that lens; I just decided that Peak Oil, etc etc and etc(!!!) would be best viewed as challenge which I must work through. I am driven by the idea that I must establish a Sanctuary for my nearest and dearest when the times get rough.

Regards,

L.

[MD]

Sometime around March of 2005 a casual conversation at lunch caused me to pull my head out of my......the sand and take a hard look at Peak Oil and related issues.

I didn't lose sleep, get anxious, or particularly "doomerish" at all in the beginning. As I continued to dig into the data, and study the issues, I began to realize just how tenuous a situation we are in and my "doomerism" began to grow.

Almost exactly one year later I started a project that turned into one of those 100 hr a week marathons that left no time for anything else, and I dropped off line for four months.

During that time my sense of "doomerism" faded quite a bit, simply because I was just too damn busy to think about it.

My schedule finally cleared around mid august, and I renewed my on line activities, only to discover that the situation had worsened considerably, mostly due to other issues related to peak oil.

My point is that when I am watching the data stream closely, my sense of doomerism increases, and it is NOT connected to how much I know about peak oil, it is connected instead to the state of events.

At first, when on the learning curve, the sense of doom does increase as the facts become clear, so I suppose the initial post is accurate in that sense.

Today my sense of "doomerism" is at an all time high. I am convinced that we are so completely and utterly fucked, that the vast majority of the population (including government entities) just aren't emotionally or intellectually prepared to cope with the reality we face.

I am firmly in the "fast crash" camp with regard to the United States in particular.

I hate to use the term "perfect storm", but that defines exactly what I see gathering momentum, right now, at a frightening pace.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')My point is that when I am watching the data stream closely, my sense of doomerism increases, and it is NOT connected to how much I know about peak oil, it is connected instead to the state of events.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')My point is that when I am watching the data stream closely, my sense of doomerism increases, and it is NOT connected to how much I know about peak oil, it is connected instead to the state of events.

[The_sky_is_falling]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')My point is that when I am watching the data stream closely, my sense of doomerism increases, and it is NOT connected to how much I know about peak oil, it is connected instead to the state of events.

[Stratovarius]

I learned about PO 2 weeks ago and have gotten increasingly doomerish since then.

About the die off...I think as long as you're mentally prepared and expect what will mostly assuredly come, you won't die. The ones dying are the ones who will be crying and whining in front of a TV camera that the government isn't feeding them.