chubbygristle wrote:Yes, I know it's all going to poo and yes I need to focus on doing something about it but squandering every waking moment on worry and stress about it all was a waste of one of the most precious and finite resources that I have and that's my time. I am not suggesting going into denial about it. More like, focusing on positive things to do about it as opposed to Peak Oil itself.
I sometimes wonder if I'm in denial about PO, and denying that I'm in denial about it In particular, I avoid watching the news because it tends to set off all those worries. On the other hand, I wouldn't describe this as denial, it's just keeping unpleasant thoughts from the forefront of my mind. Again, using the terminal illness analogy: a patient would be ill-advised to spend all their waking hours reading about their illness and its likely future progress: it is possible to live in the moment, and even to be happy, even when you know bad s*** is coming.
"We're just waiting, looking skyward as the days go down / Someone promised there'd be answers if we stayed around."
Andy_K wrote:
I'd wager it's more likely the way you present it. I've foung that getting people to believe that global oil production may be approximately at an all time peak isn't so difficult. It's what you infer the consequences are that determines whether you lose them or not.
I agree. Trying to pitch a religious scary peak oil thing and even repeating the phrase peak oil doesn't help make converts.
In any event, who cares? There's no real point making "converts" to our religion anyway.
I point out things like the fuel shortages last summer and the possibility of war shutting off oil supplies etc but if asked why I was growing food I lie and say it's just because it tastes better.
People have asked me why I bought land, why I'm going to wood-fired heating, planting fruit trees, becoming a "tree-hugger" etc etc.
I've been saying "I think there could be hard times ahead". Over the last few years most friends smiled and exchanged knowing glances with others. I've noticed that people have started to show a lot more interest recently so I'm gently introducing them to energy saving and growing some food.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it buy a rain-butt and grow its own veg.
The only oil peak that will trouble this country in the next few years is the North Sea oil peak. With the problems that will cause our balance of payments, on top of the bank bale out money, I think we will be up the swanney long before any international peak occurs and long before Climate Change, or its mitigation measures hit home.
Yip, UK PLC is really, really screwed. I find it hard to see any positives for the UK financially. It seems we are a complete basket case. The only thing I can see we can do is going back to basics, such as agriculture and basic manufacturing. And for that to have a positive outcome financially will take decades.
I have always heard it said, that a country is dependant upon what it makes/produces. Hmmmmm.
Hey Totally Baffled, please give us some positives for UK PLC
The UK has a larger Mfg and Export sector than France
Our Mfg production per person employed in Mfg blows Germany to bits
Mfg and Export economies are the worst hit during recessions
In 14 months we'll have a government that believes in low taxes and limited interferance in business, France and Germany could, quite literaly, vote in communists.
Ludwig wrote:I have mentioned PO to 15 or 16 people, and I've STILL yet to make a convert The reactions I've got have been denial or an immediate change of subject. I wonder what's different about me that I accepted it from the start - probably innate pessimism I suppose
I'd wager it's more likely the way you present it. I've foung that getting people to believe that global oil production may be approximately at an all time peak isn't so difficult. It's what you infer the consequences are that determines whether you lose them or not.
Yes but what's the point of mentioning Peak Oil without mentioning the consequences? I'm not sure I'd have deduced that it meant the end of capitalism if it hadn't been pointed out to me.
My point is that once PO had been explained to me, I took it on board, I didn't just block it out.
I don't lay on the doom and gloom too thick - I always say, "Some people say PO might mean..." etc.
Anyway, I'm not under the illusion that "converting" people achieves anything other than give you someone to talk to. I'm simply frustrated at not being able to talk about things like the undermining of civil liberties, and police brutality, in their true context. Most people are quite happy believing it's all to do with terrorism, because it's more palatable an explanation than the truth - which is precisely what the Government wants.
"We're just waiting, looking skyward as the days go down / Someone promised there'd be answers if we stayed around."
Maybe we should start a place of discussion, we could call it a forum, and we can locate it somewhere we can easily reach wherever we are in the world, like the internet.
:p
Apparently, it's all going to get better again according to a new member of the B 0f E monetary policy committee: Morgan Stanley economist David Miles. I heard this chap speak a year or two ago and he does not accept that physical limits are an important factor. What a surprise!
In an interview with the Western Mail, Miles said that the central bank's interest rate cuts and quantitative easing programme, alongside the government's spending increases and VAT reduction, were likely to have a "substantial" impact on the economy in reviving demand.
"I'm less pessimistic than many of where the economy may be going," he declared.
Miles, chief UK economist and managing director at Morgan Stanley International and a visiting professor at Imperial College in London, begins his stint on the MPC in the summer.
Article continues...
[edit - just thought, maybe we should start referring to "staunch economists", like we do staunch Tories - this guy is definitely one of them!]
The UK has a larger Mfg and Export sector than France
Our Mfg production per person employed in Mfg blows Germany to bits
Mfg and Export economies are the worst hit during recessions
In 14 months we'll have a government that believes in low taxes and limited interferance in business, France and Germany could, quite literaly, vote in communists.
There you go snow!
Dominic beat me to it!
Besides - one question, if UK plc genuinly makes nothing of value, why on earth do very clever people keep buying our debt?
In particular, I avoid watching the news because it tends to set off all those worries. On the other hand, I wouldn't describe this as denial, it's just keeping unpleasant thoughts from the forefront of my mind. Again, using the terminal illness analogy: a patient would be ill-advised to spend all their waking hours reading about their illness and its likely future progress: it is possible to live in the moment, and even to be happy, even when you know bad s*** is coming.
