[Revi]

We just watched Evan Almighty, which was a movie about a guy who was a congressman who was called to build an ark. I was thinking how much like my life it was. Since finding out about peak oil, I have been consumed by a sense of mission. Nobody believes me, but I have had to tell as many people as I can. We made some big changes to our house and cars and lifestyle, so now we use half of the fossil fuels we did. It helps a lot. I keep thinking about peak oil, however. I have in my head that 2008 is when things start to happen. The Flood is coming!

Anybody else feel like an old testament prophet?

[killJOY]

Mostly, I feel like a crank.

I, too, (I should say "we") have significantly escalated prep plans. HUGE garden this year. Continually finding ways to power down. Don't go anywhere (training for not being able to in the future). Most training is in the head. You have to be prepared to bear up to the unpredictable, and plan to be poor.

But I can't bear to open my mouth about peak oil anymore. The vast majority of friends and family have made their opinions clear about my brand of doomerism ("if you're not prepared, then you're going to suffer, and if you are prepared, you're going to suffer too, but maybe not as much") through their UTTER SILENCE on the topic. I gather they'd prefer I didn't bring it up. Farting in bed, it is.

So I don't say anything.

Which is going to be interesting if I join you and John Howe at Common Ground this fall. I will wear a sandwich board with THE END IS NEAR scrawled on it.

[syrac818]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', 'D')on't go anywhere (training for not being able to in the future).

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', ' ') Anybody else feel like an old testament prophet?

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', ' ') Anybody else feel like an old testament prophet?

[Jellric]

I feel a little bit like Moses without the Ten Commandments.

If I had those stone tablets I would at least have some shielding from the missles being thrown my way from the people who aren't hip to my message.

[Ibon]

Feeling like a prophet requires a flood or apocolyptic moment. We assume peak oil will provide that. I have started to doubt more and more this scenario. Reaching for sustainability through powerdown efforts is already spiritually enough fulfilling without the messianic need of feeling like a prophet. And if there is no singular event that provides redemption than you wont be dissapointed.

Peak oil and global warming will force a transition but assuming that external events will synchronize with ones one own persomal efforts is a little bit like believing my baseball team lost because I wore that red hat.

[Revi]

Almost everything we've done so far has saved us money at least. We put solar hot water on the house, and the price of propane went through the roof. We shrunk our cars, and the price of gas tripled. We got a woodlot before the price of land went up, and now we're heating our house and eating pancakes with maple syrup. Being an old testament prophet has been profitable, so far. Now the really hard times are coming, though. I am afraid of post 2008. It seems like all the bubbles are popping and we may be in for some of the darker parts of the Bible soon.

I try to just keep doing positive things. It's hard not to get sucked into the negative. We have a recycling group at the high school. I feel like it's a bit like being Roberto Benini in Life is Beautiful. We're building a tank! I try to tell the kids to "embrace the treehugger way". Make it into a fun lifestyle choice instead of a grim reality. In my head I am still aware that it may be a grim reality. I know that they are going to be living in the time of scarcity. It's coming, fast.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', 'M')ost training is in the head. You have to be prepared to bear up to the unpredictable, and plan to be poor.

[jdumars]

I feel exactly like KillJoy. The closest I have come to adopting the prophet philosophy was when I participated in the http://www.worldwithoutoil.org simulation with the moniker "PeakProphet". I used that experience to point out that not everyone will be surprised when supplies get tighter and more expensive.

Having moved to Tennessee, I feel fortune has smiled on us, and we can begin building our ark (again). The old Ark is for sale now (complete with all our ammo, supplies and such).

It's really hard to know things like this, especially when you see how many ways people could be preparing for it. Ah well. Such is life.

[killJOY]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'b')ut you seriously don´t go anywhere? Like, at all?

[catbox]

I've been keeping quiet round my hood aside from a few neighbors who are PO aware. The other folks around the hood are good people...just very patriotic, church going, RV driving people. I did try and explain, for the first time, why I am taking out the driveway to host more garden space, a greenhouse, and another water catchment system....also recycling the skateramp into a chicken coop at the moment too....anyway...explained my concerns about PO to my neighbor and I'm sure it fell on deaf ears....when someone can't make the connection that everything around us is connected to oil...not much more to say.

I probably seem like Chicken Little!

catbox

[Pops]

I thought this thread was about the 10 inches of rain we got over the weekend…

Nevermind

[Madpaddy]

KillJoy wrote,
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')wo very good friends, who seemed very open to changes in light of peak oil, have done the following: one got pregnant; the other just moved into a suburban development.

Most people who think they "get" peak oil apparently are of the opinion that nothing bad is going to happen to them.

Hence, I bite my tongue.

[Baldwin]

I have given up being a prophet as far as peak oil goes. Those who truly will care will find about PO on their own. The other sheeple are best left to waste gas going to Wallworld without me disturbing the peaceful bleating of their waking dreams/dreamworld. Of course, I've never tried referring them to a site like latoc.com because it scares them off and because of Savinar's Propheteering.

I've resigned myself to being the prophet of economic doom. (The day after, that little correction in the Chinese market in February gave me so credence).

[PrairieMule]

I feel like Joseph instead.

[BigTex]

The two things I hate hearing the most about PO are the following:

1. When people say this is just like the 1970s; everyone thought we were running out of oil, but it was just political;

and

2. When people suggest that Peak Oil has some kind of political agenda behind it. Ridiculous. Noticing you are hungry as you run out of food is not a political act. Making war on your neighbor who still has some food--now THAT is a political act.

To tie it back to the thread, I wonder if people asked Noah as he was working on his ark: "so this is some kind of political statement you are making about the state of society?" To which Noah may have replied, "No, I'm just trying to save myself and my family from drowning; God gave me the tip about the flood coming and made me promise to save the animals, so I've got to make this thing big enough for all of them, too."