Get ready for oil supplies to dwindle, experts warn

Some observers predict a social and economic meltdown as severe as the Great Depression

Crude oil makes Kjell Aleklett think about wild strawberries.

Aleklett, a Swedish professor of physics, sees inescapable similarities between the steady depletion of the world’s most coveted energy source and the foraging habits of berry afficionados.

“In Sweden we have strawberry fields where you can go out and pick for yourself. If you go out there in the morning there is a possibility that you can pick a big volume of strawberries. But the first picker picks the big ones. The last one is left with the small ones. It’s very much the same thing when it comes to the production of gas and oil.

“The goodies, the big ones, have been picked. It’s true all over the world. Now we have to stick to the small ones. That means it’s harder to fill the basket.”

Vancouver Sun