[Ancien_Opus]

The National Geographic arcticle "The End of Cheap Oil" caught my attention in July 2004. My first reaction was "Haven't we been over this ground before, something on the order of 5 times and each time we spmehow drilled our way out. It did cause me to start searching for more information. The next big epiphany came when I looked at ASPO's production and discovery graph. This graph sets the tone for the future, because you can't pump what you haven't found. In that little graph you can see the great Anglo-Persian discoveries, Saudi Arabia, Prudoe Bay, Cantarell and the The North Sea because its all right there in that graph. THe only real argument left is how steep or shallow will the production slope be on the backside.

[Ayoob]

I figured that people were going to do what people always do when their living standards decline. They're going to blame the assholes up the street that are stealing their good life, and that we're going to tear each other to pieces in the dark.

Once the grid goes down for good and the police can't talk to each other anymore, we're all going to be truly free for the first time in a century.

Give you three guesses what happens then.

[peripato]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob', 'I') figured that people were going to do what people always do when their living standards decline. They're going to blame the assholes up the street that are stealing their good life, and that we're going to tear each other to pieces in the dark.

Once the grid goes down for good and the police can't talk to each other anymore, we're all going to be truly free for the first time in a century.

Give you three guesses what happens then.

[MidnightOil]

A few years ago I was bouncing around the web and I dont know how I got there, but I landed on Jay Hansens dieoff.org website.

I spent weeks reading it, sceptical at first, however his logic was just too tight.Soon after that I read LATOC, then here ,then anywhere I could get information.

My reaction after I realised that peak oil was real, was that I know fuck all about what is really going on in the world.I thought I did, but I dont and not many of my peers do either.

[Lighthouse]

i thought: fuck I need land an bought 17 acre sold them and bought 100 acres and some cattle. Then I thought fuck what else can I do with this block of dirt, I need skills and went into Permaculture.

Now I think after TSHTF I will at least eat steak for a while...

[Fredrik]

Initial fascination, unease, desperation, unease, now subsiding back to fascinated (and still somewhat uneasy) wait for the calamities to start. I don't know if the weakening of fear is based more on actually mitigating prospects or if it's a defense of my psyche...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('UFCjunkie', 'W')hen I first was aware of PO I thought...PERFECT! This is what we need! This is what I have been waiting for!

Before I was aware of PO I thougt there wasn't going to be an ending to the killing of this planet, atleast not when my generation was still alive. But with PO I saw an "quick" ending to the madness we humans are responsible to.

I want Peak Oil to been long gone allready but I just have to wait and hope it comes soon if it not allready happend. And the effects of PO I hope not come long after that. I want it to happen now.

[RacerJace]

I have always thought of consumerism, the stock market and capitalist economy as unsustainable and wrong. But as most sheeple I just put it to the back of my mind and dug deep into the struggle to make a career (in engineering), getting married having children and paying a mortgage.

I knew oil was going to run out one day; my grandfather mentioned it to me back in the 70's when I was a kid. He told me I would grow up in an amazing time where humans will realise fusion power and travel to the stars. I've since learned that most technology development is just smoke and mirrors used to extract money from investors so more smoke and mirrors can be arranged along with a few expensive dinners and lots of travel to far away places to extract more money from investors.

Peak oil was introduced to me in 2005 by the CEO of the automotive company I presently work for. It was presented to all of the employees at a town hall meeting (annual business review). I felt like I was the only one that got it. And it hit me like a huge wave of panic and utter fear for the future.

For the next 3 months solid I scoured the internet to better my understanding of peak oil and it's consequences. Katrina, New Orleans and the oil shock in October 05 was all I needed to confirm it was real. I went into deep depression, learned and confirmed that my worst fears would most likely be true in the not too distant future. But most people I spoke to about it didn't or couldn't comprehend what peak oil (and overshoot) really means. Cognitive dissonance is such a bizarre human thing.

I then worked on convincing my wife that we needed to sell our house and get out of debt. She got prescribed antidepressants and we sold up in March 06. I invested the equity in oil companies, alternative energy companies and precious metals. Shortly after that the stock market took a dive, my stocks went negative and I just became numb.

I've since settled down a bit and just tried to take each day at a time and enjoy what I have but resisting the urge to go ballistic on a hedonistic splurge. If I wasn't married to a lovely woman and have two beautiful little children I would have borrowed money to the limit and blown it all on my most hedonistic fantasies and then blown my brains out by now.

So I continue to dig deep in a duel mindset (cool and calm on the outside and fretting like an abandoned puppy on the inside) waiting for hell on earth to slowly develop around me and my loved ones. One thing I can say is that when the going really gets tough I know I will be mentally prepared (or just mental I don't know) and I have a good sense of ingenuity when there are serious problems to confront, especially if I am mentally prepared for them. It's the dread of anticipation that I don't like.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Fredrik', '.')..
Somehow I think that most people aren't necessarily going to treat each other more humanely after losing their jobs, income, welfare checks, food supply, material comforts, police protection...