While we were at home in our living rooms, watching via satellite the immense spectacle of the opening of the 29th Olympic Games; something much more subtle was occurring.
While the celebration of peace was capturing the world’s attention, the world has shifted back to the brink of nuclear extinction, where we have not been for forty years.
While we watched in agony as New Zealand lost medal after medal, Russia was deploying short range nuclear weapons in the newly occupied country of Georgia, ready to respond with absolute force to any foreign intervention.
Why is Russia ready to destroy the over the small territory of Georgia?
Why does America throw away trillions of dollars every year occupying Iraq?
Why does your $2.00 decaf now cost $2.50?
Why do you care?
On August 28th 1859, Colonel Edwin Drake drilled the first commercial oil well, on a quiet farm in Titusville, Pennsylvania, sealing the fate of humanity.
In 1956, geologist M King Hubbert predicted oil production would peak, thirty years after discovery peaked .He was first proved right when America’s oil production peaked in 1970 creating an oil crisis in America.
He was proved right again in May 2005 when Global oil production peaked at 86.9 billion barrels a day. Ever since then global oil production has been going down, while demand for oil continues to rise creating our current crisis.
As soon as demand begins to exceed our production, we will begin to see shortages.
India and China are only just beginning to use oil, they have billions of people aspiring to live the “American dream”. They currently use 1.6 barrels per person, per year. To achieve the “American dream” they have to use 24 barrels per person, per year. Where will all this oil come from?
They will bid with us for a declining resource, first with money then with force.
So why don’t we just stop using oil and switch to replacements?
The problem with most replacements, Nuclear, Solar and Wind is that they create electricity. Very little oil is used to create electricity, Rather it is used in manufacturing. Where it’s used for transportation it is difficult to replace. For example, neither large ships nor aircraft can run on batteries.
Without oil we can’t make plastics, computers, cosmetics or fertilizers. Vast amounts of oil-based products are used on farms and cannot be replaced……..
Without these products that we depend on heavily, we can only produce enough food to feed about 2 billion people, leaving 5 billion people to starve or fight. Because of our abuse of oil we are in a condition biologists call “overshoot”. There are more people alive than the earth can naturally support.
Because the governments of the world are aware of this, they have begun to position themselves, so that they starve last and are in control of oil.
The main territory of untapped oil is Iraq, a close second is Iran.
Georgia has a pipeline across it supplying oil to Europe. This pipeline is now in Russia’s hands leaving Europe at their mercy.
So when you’re watching the closing ceremony at the Olympics, as the torch is being extinguished, think of the torch of humanity also moving closer to being extinguished. With the end of the Olympics China will be free to make its move either for an oil territory or against another country………..
If you still think there’s a solution, you haven’t understood the problem.
Hello , I am new to Peak Oil.
I am a 15 year old girl from New Zealand and I presented this speech to my English class at school.
Some of the kids in my class didn't understand it (Not enough attention span and brains). But the brighter kids thought I did a pretty good speech and started a discussion about it.
I left them quite depressed.
My brother idiom drones on about oil all the time, so I decided to get involved.
I would love to hear your thoughts about my speech and would like to say a big hello to everyone.
MAD_ELE
