[ReverseEngineer]

I'm up late again pondering on the the nature of the universe, and got to thinking about my earliest recollections of Peak Oil awareness. It goes back to the first airplane ride I took, heading for Brasil from Idlewild International Airport in NYC, before it was renamed JFK International Airport. I was 5 years old at the time.

It was remarkable to see New York City from the air, millions of bright lights lighting up the whole city. When we arrived in Rio, there weren't nearly so many lights,and I asked my dad how come? He told me they didn't have as much electricity as NYC.

When I returned to NYC some years later, one of the first things I remember was the "Lindsay Snowstorm". It was a major fiasco on the part of the administration of John Lindsay, mayor at the time who was embroiled in a dispute with the Sanitation Workers at a time NYC was quite broke. The streets weren't cleared of snow, and I wondered to myself briefly, "Why don't we just heat the streets and melt off all the snow as it lands?" Which actually in Manhattan does happen if the snowfall isn't too rapid. I immediately dismissed the idea as taking too much energy, but then I started thinking about all those street lights kept on all night to keep the NYC streets *somewhat* safe. Then I though about all the cars in the traffic jams in NY, and how much gas they used every day. I thought to myself, "There can't be THAT much oil around." But at least according to my 5th grade textbooks there was enough Oil in the ground for another 100 years and enough coal for 500.

Around the time I got into high school it was the 70s, and the Arab Oil Embargo hit. I remember the around the block gas lines of behemoth automobiles and Muscle Cars like the Dodge Superbee my brother in law had bought. The SUVs of the time, major gas guzzlers. By the time I was old enough to own my own car, the gas shocks of that era went away and for most of my life owning motorcycles and cars, I never even really thought about the cost of gas, it was so cheap. It really did seem inexaustible.

I never really got the connection between Plastics and Oil until my college years when I took "Orgo", the dreaded Organic Chemistry class most folks hate but I really liked. Plastic packaging was still in its infancy then, but over the years I observed how more of the old Wooden Lincoln Logs and Metal Tonka Trucks I remembered gave way to plastic models of the same stuff. I saw constant disposal with refuse dumps around NY in Staten Island and NJ overflowing with the flotsam of society. Yet STILL the oil kept on flowing and more and more stuff was made every day for more and more people to use once and throw away. I wasn't out of my teenage years really before I became convinced this could not be sustained, but I just didn't know how long it would take before it would come crashing down around us. Now I know.

Anyhow, I wrote this piece in the hopes that others here might share some of their earliest recollections of the Peak Oil problem and the incredible waste and mismanagement of our society over the years. What brought you to Energy Awareness, and how has that affected your life? You can approach it however you like. Inquiring minds want to know.

Reverse Engineer

[Don35]

Interesting topic RE. Hope this fits your request.

I remember as a child seeing airplanes for the first time and wondering how could they carry enough of anything (fuel) to do that! As a PO aware and peakoil.com educated adult I can be amazed at the energy density of oil products. Amazes me still today. We have lived in interesting times!

[davep]

I remember my Dad taking me to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales when I was eight.

He bought some rough and ready plans for a wind turbine and a methane digester. I was blown away by the fact that you could produce energy from crap.