Triage for the post-peak oil age

When casualties overwhelm battlefield doctors, they are often forced to sort the wounded into three groups: those who will survive without treatment, those who will likely die even with treatment, and those who will probably live but only with treatment. In the post-peak oil age we will likely be faced with a similar situation in deciding which activities a lower-energy society can support.

Tentatively, I propose the following triage for various broad areas:

1) activities that are “Expected to Make a Full Recovery,” ones that I think will spread and intensify out of necessity,

2) activities labeled “Code Blue”–the medical term for emergency treatment of heart attack patients–activities which I think may only survive with our active intervention or which may only be available at the level we want them to be through special efforts, and

3) activities labeled “Do Not Resuscitate” which are unlikely to survive post-peak no matter how much effort we put into them. Only “Code Blue” items are meant to indicate my preferences for a post-peak oil world.

Energy Bulletin