End Of The World As We Know It

End Of The World As We Know It

www.azcentral.com

The world peaked at 74.3 million barrels per day in May 2005. The two-year decline to 73.2 million barrels per day produced a doubling of the price of crude. Later this year, we fall off the oil-supply cliff, with global supply plummeting below 70 million barrels/day. Oil at merely $100 per barrel will seem like the good old days.

Within a decade, we'll be staring down the barrel of a crisis: Oil at $400 per barrel brings down the American Empire, the project of globalization and water coming through the taps. Never mind happy motoring through the never-ending suburbs in the Valley of the Sun. In a decade, unemployment will be approaching 100 percent, inflation will be running at 1,000 percent and central heating will be a pipe dream.

In short, this country will be well on its way to the post-industrial Stone Age.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Eesh...The following article paints quite a sombering picture of what we may be faced with if we continue on our current path, and I see nothing out there to indicate things are going to change...But this is disturbing to say the least, that we may be heading for this type of a future...All from our dependence on oil.

After all, no alternative energy sources scale up to the level of a few million people, much less the 6.5 billion who currently occupy Earth. Oil is necessary to extract and deliver coal and natural gas. Oil is needed to produce solar panels and wind turbines, and to maintain the electrical grid.

Ninety percent of the oil consumed in this country is burned by airplanes, ships, trains and automobiles. You can kiss goodbye groceries at the local big-box grocery store: Our entire system of food production and delivery depends on cheap oil.

Those that have been advocating and staring up a nice garden may be a step ahead of the game...Self-sufficiancy may mean the difference between life or death...

If you're alive in a decade, it will be because you've figured out how to forage locally.

The death and suffering will be unimaginable. We have come to depend on cheap oil for the delivery of food, water, shelter and medicine. Most of us are incapable of supplying these four key elements of personal survival, so trouble lies ahead when we are forced to develop means of acquiring them that don't involve a quick trip to Wal-Mart.

www.azcentral.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Dont worry, as soon as they have raped the earth of all the oil for maximum profits, they will present the alternatives they have been hiding/suppressing for the last few decades.



[edit on 6-4-2008 by Copernicus]

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


I actually had a similar thought last night. "The end of the world as we know it" doesn't mean the planet will be destroyed, but we'll be living a different way of life.

I have thought of welcoming a crash in the past, but I have been thinking there will be many innocents who suffer because they don't know how to survive (mainly children and the elderly). Survival of the fittest is a concept that neodarwinists use to justify war and rape.

I am not ok with that concept. Humans got this far through cooperation not war. We wouldn't be alive without each other as we are social animals.

Oil and coal are not necessary. Solar, wind, geothermal, (nuclear I guess), microhydro are all technologies that exist today for the peaceful generation of energy for homes, business, and industry.

There's another thread on ATS mentioning how we're going to sell Iraqi oil at $50 a barrel...This will line the oil companies pockets with green, jip the Iraqis out of their own oil (mind you we're stealing it, not letting them use it), and further degrade this planet. Sounds like a great plan if you have oil stock...

Algae oil is a very promising technology for diesel engines, but the gasoline automobiles are pretty much an outdated technology (and younger than diesel...). We should have moved past our dependence on nonrenewable energy by now, and ethanol from corn isn't helping anybody. Its driving the price of corn up per bushel (its now at $6 which is expensive) and causing food supply disruptions...Not to mention ethanol is not even being used in 100% concentrations so its basically a waste.

If you're alive in a decade, it will be because you've figured out how to forage locally.

You know I kind of agree with this statement. Either you grow your own food and manage to live self-sustainably or you rely on the supermarket to provide food that won't get there.

I have a garden going right now. It'll be a few months before I get a yield though.

First off the fictional American Empire won't be affected since it doesn't exist.

Secondly this was a good song by REM. Much better then this thread.

Thirdly, American invention, which has led to the Moon, to Mars and reusable space shuttles, electricity etc... will continue to dominate the world and lead the way. The US is already working on alternative solutions, and frankly if it weren't for big oil holding the patents we would already be off oil. But the fact is that the world economy relies too heavily on the US and us propping them up so we are forced to suffer through using inferior foreign products such as oil.

Not gonna happen.
1) the war in Iraq was because Saddam could play with oil production and that pissed off his Opec buddies and pissed off our Oil companies.
2) If the companies can control the production then they control price. They will produce more if and when they feel people can't pay more.
3) Don't you think if we were running out of oil we would have turned Alaska into one big oil field?
....is it possible that Bush might have owed his oil buddies both domestic and arab for becoming President in the first place? Pay back is through the pumps. Control the flow, control the price.
Anybody wondering why Iraq isn't pumping oil out of the ground like crazy? Why not? Don't you think we might be able to apply incredible financial pressure on Iran if we pumped enough out of Iraq to drive the barrel price down to about $50. Wasn't there some promise that Iraq's oil was going to pay for recontstruction? How about paying us to be there?
....man don't get me started with this stuff.
The fact is...the article is ignorant to reality.

Originally posted by biggie smalls
reply to post by DimensionalDetective

 

There's another thread on ATS mentioning how we're going to sell Iraqi oil at $50 a barrel...This will line the oil companies pockets with green

"....funny, I just made up the $50 barrel for example sake, but my friend, the lower the price per barrel the less money oil companies make."

Originally posted by US Monitor
First off the fictional American Empire won't be affected since it doesn't exist.

Do you know how many countries, america has there military in. Thats what people would call an empire, including ron paul.

reply to post by Res Ipsa


Funny, but I didn't.

U.S. TO BEGIN SELLING IRAQI OIL FOR $50 PER BARREL

Why don't you research instead of calling people liars. Thanks.

The $50/barrel price would be only for the US and the invading coalition forces (ie UK and a few others). That's not saying a whole lot. Considering oil only hit $50/barrel in 2004, that price isn't much lower.




[edit on 4/6/2008 by biggie smalls]

You can call it that, but it doesn't make it so.

Now because we have troops there does that mean the US rules there?

I am pretty sure we don't rule Germany, Japan, South Korea, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

And frankly I am all for removing all US troops from all foreign countries and stopping all Aid to all countries. Closing our southern border and devoting all resources to improving the USA.

Originally posted by biggie smalls
reply to post by Res Ipsa

 

Funny, but I didn't.

U.S. TO BEGIN SELLING IRAQI OIL FOR $50 PER BARREL

Why don't you research instead of calling people liars. Thanks.

The $50/barrel price would be only for the US and the invading coalition forces (ie UK and a few others). That's not saying a whole lot. Considering oil only hit $50/barrel in 2004, that price isn't much lower.

Easy there biggie, You posted your $50 barrel while I was writing my post, so I didn't see it. I just picked a price out of thin air and it was funny that I saw that number in the next post. So relax.
but... I don't think oil can be sold like that. Could gold? The market is the market, but I'm no economist.

You know, in relevance to this, is we just had the trucking industry threatening strikes, and even a standstill on the NJ freeways. A couple of years ago, I might have scoffed at an article like this, but I'm not anymore. If trucks can no longer afford to haul foods and necessities, then we are looking at a ripple effect that will hit everyone.

www.worldoil.com...

Looks to me like the world's oil production is still increasing. 86.64 million barrels per day as of January 2008.

I think that eventually, we will hit a wall, but we're not there yet.

Ahhh...fresh doom.

I wish we could start the marble from spinning already and say "hey! we don't like all the price-gouging! Cheney is on some Arab billionare's yacht "fishing" when in actuality he's wearing a goat mask and getting in on with 10 year-old boys (regular Bohemian Grove stuff). It makes plucky mad!

edit for pluckyness

[edit on 6-4-2008 by pluckynoonez]

When people realize that alternative energy technologies are not going to fill the gap in the oil supply, we are going to see domestic oil fields open up, including ANWR, off-shore sites, and all those places where we know there is oil here in the contiguous 48, but used to too be expensive to drill for, given the supply coming from abroad.

I don't know how much oil we have untapped in this country, but in the long haul we're better off using everyone else, until such time as we get realistic and start exploiting our own resources.

[edit on 2008/4/6 by GradyPhilpott]

I'm pretty sure there isn't a peak oil crisis, in the sense that the actual oil is running out. I think there is a peak oil in the sense that the oil industry controls the oil, and therefore dictates the price.

Perhaps they are creating the illusion of peak oil? I dunno, but I think the prices will increase per barrel continously as long as there is a demand.

Grady,

I think its pretty naive to think alternative energy can't take the place of oil/coal/natural gas. Its simply not true. Wind power in the state of South Dakota alone could provide enough power for the entire nation. Coupled with solar power in the Southwest, more wind power on the coasts, and wave/current generators in the Oceans/Seas/big rivers could power the entire world.

As for the automobile crisis, as I've said in countless other threads, gasoline is a bunk technology. We should have been using biodiesel 100 years ago when Henry Ford powered his Model T (or whatever his first experimental model) on PEANUT OIL (almost any kind of vegetable oil would work) and built his car body out of HEMP.

We are wasting our time, money, and energy in the middle east and elsewhere investing in technology older than all of us.

Fossil fuels is so last century. We now have hydrogen power for cars, which isn't great, but better than gasoline (more expensive and flammable).

We're humans. We adapt to our environment and figure out new ways of living on a constant basis.

Why is energy policy so much different?

I have been studying renewable energy for years. I would consider myself somewhat of an expert in the field, although I could not explain to you how every detail works. I would need an engineer to help.

With that being said, there's no point using oil any longer than necessary. Granted we are highly invested in the current infrastructure, but that doesn't mean a thing.

We already have a power grid setup across the nation to easily distribute renewable energy and there's already gas stations that can be easily retrofitted for alternative fuel.

Simple. It may cost billions of dollars to switch over, but its either our pocketbook or the planet (and in turn our children).

Which is more important? A bit of a hassle or death? I chose life for that and the 7 generations following.

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy

I'm pretty sure there isn't a peak oil crisis, in the sense that the actual oil is running out. I think there is a peak oil in the sense that the oil industry controls the oil, and therefore dictates the price.

Perhaps they are creating the illusion of peak oil? I dunno, but I think the prices will increase per barrel continuously as long as there is a demand.

That’s much how I see it. The world is changing from the one we've known, but it's by globalist design, not of necessity. Check out Lindsey Williams' testimony.

www.reformation.org...

or on video

video.google.com...

edit for correction

[edit on 6-4-2008 by resistor]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
we get realistic and start exploiting our own resources.

There's the problem in your thinking right there. We shouldn't exploit anything. We need to work with nature rather than against it. So far we've done quite a great job at disregarding our connection to the planet, but soon we will have no choice but to go back to the drawing board.

Failure to see the unintended consequences of fossil fuels could cause destruction to all life, and yes, we are a part of that life. The planet will live on without us, new beings will evolve, and hopefully learn from the mistakes we made in the past.

We have not learned from our mistakes as a species and will continue to make the same mistakes if we do not question what we are doing.

The system in place is not concrete and can be changed pretty easily as I stated above. If we are simply using fossil fuels because it entails the least amount of effort for us, perhaps we should rethink our behavior.

Renewable energy is the future whether people want to admit it or not. We cannot continue extracting finite resources from our planet and expect life to continue as it has in the past/present.

The world is changing, and we need to change with it. Failure to do so will cause disaster for the portion of the human population who did not wish to change.

I will not be part of that group. I will evolve and change. As will many others.

I watched an investigative report on PBS about oil prices and they were documenting how oil companies actually make money by importing oil from other countries. How can you honestly get off oil if the companies are already financially dependant on importing oil. Oil companies do manufacture alot of oil but a huge chunk of it is imported simply because the companies can use that extra factor to manipulate the market.

I had a debate with 2 right wingers about a year ago because I honestly think that gas will get to 25, maybe 30 dollars a gallon before the government decides that this is a critical point in human history and figures out that without some kind of economic system in place to ensure the competition between alternative energy companies and the big oil companies we will get nowhere. The only way we will get off oil is if alternative energy stands up to the oil companies and begins to compete in the marketplace. I don't think that will be too difficult when the oil prices get to 25-30 dollars a gallon, but as long as the oil companies have a hold of the market we will always be importing oil from other countries.

I'm not saying that the government should bear the burden of forcing us onto alternative energy. I'm just saying that there must be an economic system in place to ensure competition because without that competition the oil companies will always have a stranglehold and we will end up working for gasoline and nothing else. It's a travesty.

Then you have places like here in Interior Alaska where fuel-oil prices are so high some people are having to live in their vehicles to survive when it's 50 below zero because they already can't afford the price of fuel-oil. It's starting to get ridiculous. To my knowledge we go through more fuel-oil per household than any city in the state (in the nation?). Add that on top of vehicles and whatever else you're running, it ends up being a huge benefit to the oil companies and noone else. We already have unsafe air qualities in winter because of the exhaust everything spits out.
www.gi.alaska.edu...
www.newsminer.com...

-ChriS

[edit on 6-4-2008 by BlasteR]

[edit on 6-4-2008 by BlasteR]