Today, here in Cleveland, the Plain Dealer, Ohio's most-read newspaper, had as its lead story an huge article on peak oil (Now, I see San Diego's daily also had a story on peak oil, too). The Cleveland PD's article jumped to the inside, where two pages were devoted to the subject of peak oil. There were lots of graphics, including Exxon-Mobil's chart showing a widening demand-supply gap in the coming years.
The reporters did an excellent, well-balanced job, and presented the information in such a way so as to introduce readers to the subject without scaring them off. The Plain Dealer noted this was the first of an ongoing, periodic series it will run on the subject of peak oil and related energy issues! Plus, Peak0il.com was listed as an Internet resource, so don't be surprised if you get a surge of Cleveland-area folks on this forum.
Here's a link to the large article:
Struggling to keep a lid on oil crisis
There also was a second article on the two-page spread inside about a national conference on energy, to be held this Thursday (June 2) at Case Western Reserve University, here in Cleveland. Here's a link to the article about the CWRU conference:
Case hosts national energy seminar
On-line registration is available at:
http://www.energy05.org
Glad to see the mainstream press is starting to catch on. Now, if we could just get the cable news channels to spend a little less attention on comparatively meaningless courtroom dramas and focus their cameras on peak oil. ...I guess that's too much to ask!
PeakOil is You
[Is mainstream media starting to wake up?]
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[Is mainstream media starting to wake up?]
by Peepers » Sun 29 May 2005, 21:08:42
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by ArimoDave » Sun 29 May 2005, 21:17:19
Peepers wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')lad to see the mainstream press is starting to catch on. Now, if we could just get the cable news channels to spend a little less attention on comparatively meaningless courtroom dramas and focus their cameras on peak oil. ...I guess that's too much to ask!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')lad to see the mainstream press is starting to catch on. Now, if we could just get the cable news channels to spend a little less attention on comparatively meaningless courtroom dramas and focus their cameras on peak oil. ...I guess that's too much to ask!
The problem with TV news, whether it is broadcast or cable, is that it must be entertaining.
How, do we make Peak-Oil entertaining without being sensationalized? I doubt we can.
If anyone has any ideas how to do this, please spout off (avoid sensless humor please.)
ArimoDave
I know exactly where we are;
. . . .
don't know where we're going, but no use in being late.
(Mathew Quigley [Tom Selleck])
. . . .
don't know where we're going, but no use in being late.
(Mathew Quigley [Tom Selleck])
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by EddieB » Sun 29 May 2005, 21:17:44
I suspected when the Globe and Mail began its series of articles on PO it would be the tip of the iceberg. So it appears to be. I do wonder how much longer the mainstream media will really follow it though. Will everyone run a story or two and tehn move on to other things only to dig it out again when (if) prices spike to $80/barrel next year? Or will they keep on plugging out stories regularly? My hunch is the former.
Still, it's great that it is finally getting some play. Now at least I'll seem like less of wacko.
Still, it's great that it is finally getting some play. Now at least I'll seem like less of wacko.
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by Peepers » Sun 29 May 2005, 21:24:29
Interesting point, but consider that these articles are popping up after gasoline prices have leveled off for the past month or so. It's not like they're responding to something suddenly different. I think it's just that the inescapable reality of what's confronting us in the near future is starting to seep in through the cracks of more people's brain cells.
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by MicroHydro » Sun 29 May 2005, 22:09:35
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peepers', 'I')nteresting point, but consider that these articles are popping up after gasoline prices have leveled off for the past month or so. It's not like they're responding to something suddenly different. I think it's just that the inescapable reality of what's confronting us in the near future is starting to seep in through the cracks of more people's brain cells.
Everyone over 45 has been aware of the problem, we were informed in the 1970s. At the time it was widely said that oil production would start declining this decade. What is happening is that a quarter century of deliberate denial is finally breaking down.
"The world is changed... I feel it in the water... I feel it in the earth... I smell it in the air... Much that once was, is lost..." - Galadriel
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Re: Is mainstream media starting to wake up?
by Zentric » Sun 29 May 2005, 22:47:19
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peepers', 'G')lad to see the mainstream press is starting to catch on. Now, if we could just get the cable news channels to spend a little less attention on comparatively meaningless courtroom dramas and focus their cameras on peak oil. ...I guess that's too much to ask!
Please be careful what you ask for, Mr. Peepers. What if the media covered the PO geological phenomenon and anticipated societal fallout in its full gory detail, but the response from our political leadership was inadequate - or, more to the point, if their response was anathema to our general cause?
For example, Bush could effectively say "We're running out of oil, so let's start two more wars to preserve our proud way of life." And, as we cheer him on, the explosions of our missiles only serve to dig America deeper in its hole, and then he consolidates power as we, destitute, are forced to shrink back into our little corner of the world, forever.
Our world doesn't only need peak oil awareness, it needs peak oil awareness plus a whole lot of other things at the same time.
ArimoDave: No senseless humor from me, I promise
P.S. Maybe after FX airs that movie "Oil Storm" on June 5, you'll get your wish anyway.
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by Peepers » Tue 31 May 2005, 21:35:05
That's why the public needs to know all the facts. An ignorant electorate never begets good leaders and sound public policy. I would argue that the lack of media coverage of the PO issue has put us into Iraq because the public feels there is no other choice. I've run into too many people who said if Bush had argued for an Iraqi invasion on the basis of energy security, that they would have supported that. My counter to that is, there is no more harsh lifestyle change than death. A lifestyle change that promotes conservation here at home is far less drastic.
But the public is so blithely unaware that the lifespan of the oil economy is fast ticking away. That's where the media needs to come in.
But the public is so blithely unaware that the lifespan of the oil economy is fast ticking away. That's where the media needs to come in.
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by Zentric » Wed 01 Jun 2005, 01:23:44
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peepers', 'T')hat's why the public needs to know all the facts.
Remember when Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men said, "you can't handle truth." Well, with the population being so dumb and complacent, maybe he was on to something. So, depending on how the message of our dire circumstances is communicated - either we're going to go berserk on, say, the Iranians or the liberals in America or we're going to take our lumps - where the mortgage broker with a large house and family in Phoenix will be none too thrilled to hear the Newsman at 11 telling him he's no longer a millionaire with a promising career, but that now he's bankrupt, that his future prospects are grim and starting now his wife is refusing to sleep with him.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')n ignorant electorate never begets good leaders and sound public policy.
Yes, but facts themselves won't erase our ignorance. Critical examination of our selves and the world around us will. I wonder if you've noticed that critical thought, applied outside of technology, is kind of out of style these days. I think that comes from Prozac, an inflated sense of entitlement and high-fructose corn sweetener.
But I do agree, absent the ignorance of the electorate, it would be nice if we had leaders who aimed higher on the electorate's behalf. If we had such leaders then there'd be some hope for that poor mortgage broker as the leaders presented their "master plan" to mitigate the damages and create a reasonable path for "smart", less energy-intensive growth and resource consumption. And which would even employ the advertising executives of Madison Avenue to tell us how we'll be consuming one-half less, that we'll start to rely on each other and create good sustainable connections and our lives will be meaningful again. And, for once, the advertisers wouldn't be lying. But I'm afraid that's not where the power and money (which does all the talking) are these days. Their primary interest is in cattle, and those who feed on them.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') would argue that the lack of media coverage of the PO issue has put us into Iraq because the public feels there is no other choice. I've run into too many people who said if Bush had argued for an Iraqi invasion on the basis of energy security, that they would have supported that.
I don't know exactly the point you're making is valid, or whether the "too many people" you speak of are the sort who just make problems worse while they think they're making them better. But I will say that the only things the larger public knows are propaganda and slogans, and how it's truly miraculous that our stupidity, up to this point at least, has been fatal mostly only to other members of the global community. Our redemption should be the shared challenge of powering down. But how do you get the public to undertake such an endeavor without either (a) making them stampede willy-nilly, thus aggravating the situation, or (b) herding them into successively smaller pens - enslaving them, as it were, while the Corprocrats on top reap all the benefits of a bargain-rate mass-servitude?
If voters could be made to think critically, and believed in a nearly-universal set of principals that benefitted us both collectively and as individuals, only then would I feel that we had a chance to do the right thing. Today, I think, Matt Savinar changed his site's message from "Let's understand this so we can solve the problem together" to something like "A tidal wave is coming, so prepare yourselves (as individuals) as best you can." And based on the non-response of our leaders these last few months, and the "cornucopian outlook" that I see everywhere even on this board, I believe I know exactly where Matt is coming from.
As for me, I'm hoping that enough Democrats and Republicans in the Senate will get together to expose our President for the criminal that he is, and then, in measures, reveal "the master plan" on how we, as well as the rest of the world, are going to make the adjustments. But it would entail massive global cooperataion, involve the advocacy of birth control and, dare I say, socialism which very well could spark Civil War II here in America, unless, that is, our leaders could reach a true consensus and then make an eloquent argument as to why we should start to live with the greatest humility and concern for our fellow man (and animals.)
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')y counter to that is, there is no more harsh lifestyle change than death. A lifestyle change that promotes conservation here at home is far less drastic.
Actually, I think a lot of people would prefer death before giving up their entitlement to a large air-conditioned home or monster truck. And it would appear that the Bush Administration greatly honors that belief system as it applies to our foreign policy. Your own belief system might be out-gunned here.
What you want even though it is good, proper, altruistic and humanistic may not be what you are going to get. Be good and at the same time take care of yourself and your loved ones. Be understanding of those who make it a point not to thank you as you are looking out for their interests, keeping in mind that if you want to save humanity, this also means you want to save all that is stupid, flawed and weak in us too. It's part of the bargain. I'm sorry to preach.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ut the public is so blithely unaware that the lifespan of the oil economy is fast ticking away. That's where the media needs to come in.