[strider3700]

Once upon a time there was 6.5 billion cars, traveling along a dark, rain-slick street, going anywhere from 10-80 MPH.

Out of the shadows ambled a horse.

A few dozen yards before impact, the fastest drivers saw the horse. In the time before the impact the first driver pumped his brakes and started steering towards the left.

A prayer flickered through his mind. His pupils dilated as his muscles stiffened. The second driver slammed into the back of him and the chain reaction started to pile up.

The leaders said a single word. It wasn't a nice word.

In the end everyone doing over 55 MPH was in the pile up. Half of them died in the crash, the rest with various degrees of injury. Everyone doing less then 55 slowed and came to a halt some quickly others nice and slow. They where stuck many of them so far back that they had no idea there was ever a horse they just saw that everyone was in their way. As they sat the anger started to burn and they laid on the horns. Those involved the crash where at first shaken but as they overcame the shock realized that these others eople still had perfectly working cars and off the went to get them. They had placed to go after all...

[DavidFolks]

Fortunately for the slower drivers, the hoarde of fast drivers were now on foot. Some had sustained injuries and some were dead.

Realizing the road ahead was jammed with the wreckage of the imprudent, the slower drivers guided their vehicles off the highway and found different routes to their destinations.

As for the angry mob from the wrecked cars...

Seems they couldn't overrun or overpower the people who had working vehicles.... Even though they were a bit slower.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DavidFolks', 'A')s head of the fifth column, I pass these responsibilities on to you.

Seek out the shelters we have made.

[DavidFolks]

In the end, Sharkey was murdered by one of his own minions.

His fortress was razed, the grounds around it cleansed, and the land recovered.

The peace loving folk went back to their modest happy existance after a short period of recovery.

I doubt that they made the same mistakes.

[strider3700]

sometimes I miss the zombie thread

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'O')nce upon a time there was a car, traveling along a dark, rain-slick street, going 80 MPH.

Out of the shadows ambled a horse.

A few dozen yards before impact, the driver saw the horse. In the time before impact, he slammed on the brakes. Then he tried to steer to the left - but the road conditions, the application of brakes, and his own reaction time left no time.

A prayer flickered through his mind. His pupils dilated as his muscles stiffened.

He said a single word. It wasn't a nice word.

The car hit the horse, and the horse came in through the windshield. Man and horse died instantly.

All of the above is purest fiction. It is also an allegory of our present economic and cultural situation. By all means, apply the brakes, attempt to steer, and pray if you wish.

But physics ordains the outcome for peak oil, as surely as it did for the driver.

[Jack]

Neat photo, Twilight.

Actually, in the old days, when cars were a little higher off the road, the horse wouldn't come into the vehicle. Instead, the horse's head would come in and, generally, decapitate the driver.

One of the things one learns hanging out with highway patrolmen.

[katkinkate]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DavidFolks', 'I') imagine a planet where people came to within a hairs-breadth of catastrophy, and with deliberation, hard work and consideration learned to live responsibly and sustainably.....

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DavidFolks', 'I')n the end, Sharkey was murdered by one of his own minions.

[bobcousins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DavidFolks', 'I')f we work to develop solutions before we have problems, we have the potential to evolve from a depletion model to a sustainable model for existance.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here are too many people here wedded to a particular idea to have any sensible discussions. Most open-minded people don't stay, leaving the doomers and crazies.

[DavidFolks]

For Ludi, I'll be happy to offer a part of the solution. Ludi was kind enough to point out to me that espousing belief in solutions without offering any was a little pathetic... My words, not Ludis'.

One caveat I would like to offer Aaron is that I realize this is not the solution. I do not think that there is any one solution in isolation, but many efforts working in concert will have a mitigating effect on a hard crash.

One project in the works is for the treatment of human sewage and organic wastes.

If we take an small urban area with a dense population, and divert all collected sewage and organic food wastes to a treatment facility, we can concentrate the solids. Anerobic bacterial action in a sealed environment would produce methane gas.

Take the gas, and run boilers for steam generation of electricity. Use the electricity to run the plant, or sell if there is excess. Make sure that the plant is designed to use sun and wind for energy inputs as well, and the methane becomes a backup stored energy source.

Use the buildings around the facility as condensers for the steam, to harness the process heat to a usefull end. It would also help if the surrounding buildings employed as many systems as possible to provide for their own energy needs, and were built to suit the climate rather than fight it.

Sterilize the processed solids and use them for fertilizer.

This system has the benefits of taking what would normally be a waste product that would require energy to dispose of, and turning it into a valuable input that would produce energy and a useful byproduct.

For the doomers out there, remember "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" Pigshit=energy.

It's not the solution, but it is a part of redesigning the way we do things to be a part of the solution.

[DavidFolks]

Shannymara, we all know that hindsight is 20/20.

Developing this kind of system for new construction would be a snap. The will to produce better and more efficient housing is growing every day.

Separation of the waste stream is an exercise in engineering.

Changing the infrastructure, or upgrading it is useful and has to be done periodically anyway. Also has the benefit of increasing the GDP. I'm resonably sure our infrastructure is being maintained to a certain degree, as I still enjoy delivery of potable water to my property, and my sewage is not backing up in the basement. Resources to do what has to be done are always found.

If we're solution oriented, we'll find solutions. If we're problem oriented, we'll find problems.

[DavidFolks]

Shanymara, I think you're missing the point.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails. Seems to me your only tool is a oil and oil based technology.

If a solution oriented person needs a ditch, he'll get a ditch. Use a backhoe if you have the machinery and diesel fuel. Use a group of people with shovels if you don't. Divert runoff to cut a trench. Get on your hands and knees with a spoon if necessary.

I simply posit that oil and oil based technology is not the only way to do things. I also believe that if we make an effort to find the ways to the ends without relying on oil, the crash will be easier to bear.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DavidFolks', 'I')f we're solution oriented, we'll find solutions.

[bobcousins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DavidFolks', 'I') simply posit that oil and oil based technology is not the only way to do things. I also believe that if we make an effort to find the ways to the ends without relying on oil, the crash will be easier to bear.