[seb]

I will try a very rude comparaison... Some people are said by their doctor that they have a disease which can not be cured and they will likely die in the coming 10 years. Given that, certain person feel free to do things they would not do otherwise, I mean quite stupid things (from others point of view).

I wonder if this kind of psychologic effect can affect peak oilers. Have you ever felt so convinced that PO is here soon, nothing to do against it, and then you have an attitude which accelerate the process. For instance you buy a (too) big car, you heat your house up to 30 degrees (Celsius) for months... Of course, this is not a lot if we consider Earth scale, but this is objectively a quite stupid local behaviour in a PO perspective.

My question : have you ever intentionnaly waste energy (particularly oil) because you felt that PO is coming and you felt kind of fed up and desesparating?
Second question, a bit controversial : did you do it to accelerate the PO process because you want humanity to crash hard?

[Sencha]

This is a good post. I can totally relate to wanting to do more than I ever did because of the peak. I don't see the point in holding back or being conservative. The way I see it, I may only have months before the crash. I've got to do all I can to make the time I have as worth it as possible.

I've found myself wanting to play more, work less, and spend more. No, I definitely am not doing this to accelerate the crash. Its simple, there is no way I am going to cope in the post-peak world. If the current world is one in which I am most suited for (being a part of it my whole life) I'm going to make the best of it. I'm not going to plan for something I can't prevent, nor likely survive.

We are living in the last stretch of modern civilization with all of its conveniences and benefits people take for such granted. Its like driving a car as far as you can before you run completely out of gas. I'm just making sure I use every last drop, because I know it will be the last ride I ever take.

[Guest]

I believe most people on this site are unhappy and discontent in their life situation and are 'hoping' for peak oil to happen.

Peak oil will not be nearly as bad as they say it will; just propaganda.

[stu]

It's not so much a case of giving up. For me it's more like it's out of my hands and I don't have the resources to deal with it.

I'm a student and when I finish next year will owe (Student and personal loans) almost 20k.

Considering that I won't be earning good money for a long time and the peak seems imminent by 2010 then my hopes of good preparation are pretty slim.

The best I can hope for is knowledge on self suffiency from books and the Net.

[julianj]

Yes, I've been feeling the same way:

As an individual your use of fossil fuel is so small that you can hardly accelerate or retard it.

But the urge to do frivolous things while they are still available has been growing for me: the Party is Still Going On now, and I've always boyishly wanted to drive a racing car.

I've been seriously wondering whether I should go on one of the one-day courses where you get to drive one round somewhere like Brands Hatch. Normally my ecology-conscience would not let me but what the hell!

It would make up for the waves of (mild, but nagging) depression I am coping with.

[cmlek]

I guess I get to be the odd duck out here. I believe in (and was raised to value) self-sufficiency and conservation, and would be frugal even without PO as a reason. I do not try to accelerate the crash, because the longer it takes, the more time I have to prepare, and availability/prices stay lower the longer people are unaware.

I don't believe making people aware will help change any outcome of PO. In order to effect change, you'd have to suddenly make everyone want to give up all their excesses and embrace a simplified life. (And here in the US, I rate the likelihood of that as being roughly equal to the likelihood of the Earth getting hit by a passing meteor knocked off orbit and crashing into Jupiter.) So, I do what I can with what I got, and even if it gets very bad, I know I couldn't have done any better.

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')'ve been seriously wondering whether I should go on one of the one-day courses where you get to drive one round somewhere like Brands Hatch. Normally my ecology-conscience would not let me but what the hell!

[UncoveringTruths]

I will never give up. Life is what you make of it. Fight hard! The human race didn't get to where we are by giving up. Yea PO is fubar! PO is also a challenge and who knows what oppurtunities the future may hold.

[Chuck]

Before i read about Peak Oil, I was already in the "tuning out-mode". The whole idea just speeded up the proces.
Now I have my house for sale and I hope it will be sold before any recession hits.
Wasting energy feels like a immoral thing to do. Wasting anything goes against all I believe in. But then, I had a Christian upbringing.
Christian not in the American style (It seems to me that those Bush-Christians really must hate Jesus, with his unmanly attitude).
Btw I consider myself not a Christian anymore, but you keep the good things and throw away the b.s.

[stu]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('UncoveringTruths', 'I') will never give up. Life is what you make of it. Fight hard! The human race didn't get to where we are by giving up. Yea PO is fubar! PO is also a challenge and who knows what oppurtunities the future may hold.

[Vexed]

Check out Nevil Shutes book " On the Beach."

If I remember correctly, the book portrayed the waning days of some Australian folks after THE nuclear war. They knew they were going to die of radiation poisoning within months and the book documents their lives leading up to that inevitable conclusion.

What did they do? Race cars without caution. Drink without responsibility. As Seb said: $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'q')uite stupid things

[Dvanharn]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') believe most people on this site are unhappy and discontent in their life situation and are 'hoping' for peak oil to happen.

Peak oil will not be nearly as bad as they say it will; just propaganda.

[oowolf]

If I recall my long past college experience correctly this is an ethics question. Would you steal if you knew you wouldn't get caught? I long ago came to the realization that industrial civilization is murdering the planet. I also realized it would be impossible to revert to a purely "natural" state. My only viable course would be to resist consumerism and live as much of a frugal, self sufficient life as I am capable. Stephanie Mills calls it "Epicurean Simplicity"and quotes Thoreau--"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." Our collective inability to comprehend this simple concept has doomed us to the fate of mindless microbes. Personally, I'm spending more time "in the woods" as it is just too depressing to be amongst "the mass of men..."

[stu]

For me the dilemma is when do I act. I cant act now because I only have the resources to obtain information and put nothing into practise. The way I see it is that the dollar could crash any day now so what the hell. The world is going to go down the toilet in the not too distant future and so everything will be a struggle anyway. Unless you are super rich.

[Aaron]

As Tom Hanks observed in "Castaway"

"You never know what the tide might bring..."

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

When I look at my personal situation, I have given up hope. I think it all comes down to time, money, and family/friends support. All of which I have none of. I look at my future and see something along the lines of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle".

That being said, I haven't given up on other people who may be in a better situation than I am. I think it is important to alert people who are unaware who would have either the time, money and support.

I looking into some oil awareness, sustainability, local food production and enviromental groups and organizations.

[Permanently_Baffled]

Jrob,

Can you change your avatar , that is disgusting !!!!!!!

[tmazanec1]

I do not "frivolously" use energy, but do not deprive myself either. I keep the house a little cooler than I might like, try to remember to turn out lights, do not drive except when I have to (in a small Toyota), etc. On the other hand, I cheerfully surf the web and will buy things like an iPod. As for surviving, I have little time or money, but have a FABULOUS family and a few very good friends who help me even though I cannot help them. I have two warring PO scenarios in my mind, and see little ground between them. In the "good" one my "network" should help pull me through. In my "bad" one I will die. I will not turn criminal but I will try to survive honestly...and almost certainly fail. The changes in my life to give me even a small chance are too Herculean for me to face, and would likely fail anyway. And if my "good" scenario comes to pass I will have blighted what was left of my life for nothing.
And yes, change the avatar. Please.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Permanently_Baffled', 'J')rob,

Can you change your avatar , that is disgusting !!!!!!!

[skateari]

Saying you cant do anything is not true. Anyone and everyone can do something to help their situation for the comming years ahead. Sure, live it up and appricate the things you have now. But dont overconsume, use what you need to feel comfortable, dont use more. Saying "Im gonna die so might as well live it up".. I agree with both parts, but Im not planning on dying anytime soon even with PO and im going to live it up with the American dream as long as I can.. But to give up hope and let reality deal with you instead of doing something to prepare is in my opinion a waste. Your only going to live once, its not measured in the car you drive, the cloths you wear or the food you eat, its measured in the things you do, the people your with and the things you enjoy. If you enjoy gardening, animals, your family, books, hikes, etc - who ever said the world will not be worth living? Trust me, no matter how helpless you feel, you sure could be spending your time doing things that will help you more in the years ahead then what you are doing now.

Sure, you might not be driving a car, eating skittles and mcdonalds, watching bigscreen movies and hitting up the beach. But its better then rotting in some hole somewhere. Im sure I could find some sort of hapiness in a different living situation, as far as im concered human life is about survival not about hapiness.

So my take on it is enjoy what we got, when you drive notice how the lines streak by and how fun it can be. But dont drive futher and faster then you have to. When you heat your home enjoy the feeling of warth and the ability to create it, but dont make your house a steamroom. You dont need to overconsume in order to 'live life to the fullest', you just need to appricate what you have. And trust me, even if you feel you can do nothing about this - your wrong. You can read books about survival, you can take classes, you can still gain experiance. There is always something you can do now (while taking advantage of living in the peak of civilisation) that will put you in a better situation for tommorow. Get some work on the farm, meet some people and gain connections who already live of the land. Trust me, when your staving, thirsty, and dying, your not going to be thinking about how what you had before, your going to be thinking about how to get the things to keep you from dying. And you can get those things now easier then you will be able to in the future.