PowerSwitch

Is it just me or is there very little direct media coverage of Peak Oil and more importantly even less debate about the possible impacts and solutions in the mainstream media channels?

How would you go about promoting/advocating/educating people on Peak Oil and it's possible impacts?

Been there. Done that. Got the T Shirt.

Don't waste your time AG, the sheeple don't want to know.

LOL - it is very easy to be cynical - I often am too.

But I tend to let people know what is coming by gently introducing and discussing the subject when I am in a situation where I have people's attention for a decent amount of time - minimum half an hour.

It is easy to do it by relating to many of the things that are going on around us all the time. The cutbacks, the price of food, the price of fuel, the housing situation, etc.

I don't hang back as the conversation develops and I explain that I think we will have major difficulties ahead. I certainly don't express all my worst fears, but I let people know that we are in a very fast train hurtling towards a very big mountain!

I must have discussed this with 30 or 40 people over the years, maybe more. I have yet to receive a negative feedback, although some people find it hard to accept the reality of it. I go a bit easier with these people.

I have some friends and acquaintences that seem to hold me in high regard because of the information I have opened their eyes too. I only say this because I have been asked to discuss PO with other people in a small group setting from time to time.

I do get called a doomer/bringer of bad tidings/end of the world theorist occasionaly, but I know these people just say this to cover their own discomfort with the situation.

AG just tell them that there are these things called CC and PO but not to worry about them because the economy is on the way to collapsing well before those two will catch us.

I think the statistics need to be more widely reported. Even if there is dispute about when we reach PO it is still frighteningly no matter which statistics you choose to believe yet people don't seem largely aware. Once people here the stats they tend to stand up and take note.

I think the word is spreading, but oh so slowly.

One of the main problems is that (almost) ALL the politicians simply will not acknowledge it or take any action on it for the simple reason that it would make them impossible to re-elect.

An expose/ of a politician doing real preps (buying a forest, storing food, putting in standalone renewables, etc) would, erm, focus a few minds.

RenewableCandy wrote:An expose/ of a politician doing real preps (buying a forest, storing food, putting in standalone renewables, etc) would, erm, focus a few minds.

Do you know of one?

It's one thing to spread the word among one's acquaintances - another to tell the public at large.

No good would come of announcing PO publicly. People would not react in a constructive way. The supermarkets would be cleared in half a day, there would be social unrest, and there would be much opportunistic crime amid the chaos.

Everything would grind to a halt, and there would be no obvious way forward. Of course this will happen anyway, sooner or later, but there's nothing to be gained in announcing the gloom before it happens.

JohnB wrote:

RenewableCandy wrote:An expose/ of a politician doing real preps (buying a forest, storing food, putting in standalone renewables, etc) would, erm, focus a few minds.

Do you know of one?

John Hemming?

It would probably hit the stock markets first, which would then cascade onto the general public.

Any proclamation of PO would probably have to be part of an announcement of the mitigation measures, such as shutting the Stock Exchange for a week and banks for a few days, to be put in place immediately after the announcement.

Anyone got any other workable ideas?

There can be no public announcement. I've noticed that government measures always refer to anything but the elephant in the room (create new names for things).

A week on Sunday I've inviting friends to a bit of a doomer day (already mentioned elsewhere). They'll be able to admire my new stove and extensive insulation works, will eat some good home-made food, drink elderflower wine, and watch (probably) Rob Newman and Children of Men. I'll be providing them with info about further resources to look at themselves.

Okay, this is people I know, but as Tesco says, "every little helps".

Raising awareness in an oblique way on non PO discussion forums seems to be effective, it means we are not just talking amongst ourselves.

A good example today in the comments thread to this -
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 46983.html

'how public finances might develop over the next 40 years,'

Absolutely hilarious!!!! Is this black comedy?

By 2050 global oil extraction will be down to 20% of the 2005 peak, at best (or could even be down to zero), and the present oil-based economic arrangements will be a distant memory. In in all likelihood, this energy squandering civilisation will have completely vanished, with little trace left, other than a few abandoned concrete structures.

In a similar way, I've done the same myself, highlighting Martenson's Crash Course, and JMG on a redundancy / careers discussion blog.

And any discussion about economics can always refer to TAE or other PO aware finance bloggers, plenty out there.