PowerSwitch

Hiya, I work in an office position in a freight forwarding for Far Eastern ocean shipping. With a recession looming and oil prices being at the height they are, we won't get out of this lightly if companies can't afford to keep importing cheap goods.

I feel guilty as nobody in my office knows about what is really going on, sure they know about the possibilities of recession but that's it. They go on about football, what happens at the weekend and I can't tell them the truth. There is already forboding on the horizon and my inability to speak may be sentencing them to misery and suffering. Would they even believe me or listen at all if I told them?

How did you do it, or didn't you either? It's actually the same with my family. I can't bring myself to tell them either.

I dont try and push it, personally. Just wait for them to say things that are near the truth and then agree with them, and give a tidbit of evidence to push things along.

Or if they express something like 'the govt is hiding oil" or "taxes are too high" you can always (without disagreeing) say your view that the economy's in trouble because energy is so expensive and you dont think the government can sort it out. Blaming the govt always goes down well...

Trying to force it on people doesnt generally go very well. Leaves you feeling crap as well.

Most of my colleges are pretty clued up - my manager even took time off work in 2005 to come with me to the Edinburgh peak oil conference!

A lot of people I know are running around so much like headless chickens trying to earn money and do stuff they find themselves doing they really do not have time for thinking about preparations.

So much machinery and lighting is left on where I work when it's totally unnecessary; I'd like to see energy being non-tax-deductible, though I know this is wishful thinking. At least ours is from a wind energy company but that's no reason to waste money.

Left on my own one lunchtime, I went round and turned off six radios. There are ten people working in this building.

I was told to stop shutting down printers and stuff because people were coming in at odd times during the evenings and weekends doing work.

In summary, we're looking up a very steep hill. Good luck!

Toadstool wrote:Hiya, I work in an office position in a freight forwarding for Far Eastern ocean shipping. With a recession looming and oil prices being at the height they are, we won't get out of this lightly if companies can't afford to keep importing cheap goods.

I feel guilty as nobody in my office knows about what is really going on, sure they know about the possibilities of recession but that's it. They go on about football, what happens at the weekend and I can't tell them the truth. There is already forboding on the horizon and my inability to speak may be sentencing them to misery and suffering. Would they even believe me or listen at all if I told them?

How did you do it, or didn't you either? It's actually the same with my family. I can't bring myself to tell them either.

They wouldn't believe you if you came out with the full-on PO story all in one lump. I'd go with Tess' idea of adding the odd bit from PO to a conversation that's already going along those lines.

Also, every now and then most firms have strategy-meetings, brainstorming sessions or other interludes when people are asked to 'look up' beyond the day-to-day and think of the future: there might be a chance for you to get on one of these sessions/committees, and get them thinking about ever-rising fuel prices, business continuity issues, and so on. I'm pretty convinced there'll still be shipping in the future: just "not as we know it "

I say nothing at work because firstly they will think that I am mad, and secondly they might think to look for my hoard, er sorry prudent preps, that I keep in a few uninteresting looking renta crates at work.

They might even think to visit me at home to ensure that I am not hoarding.

I find people fall into two groups

- those who classify people and those who don't

no, no ....

I mean:

Group 1: Those who don't know about PO ... and don't or won't understand despite what you say or explain.

Group 2: Those who FULLY understand about PO etc ... usually oil or gas industry people or hippy types. Most of these simply KNOW .. but don't seem to make any attempt to enlighten others. They know it's a pointless task I suppose.

In other words, people won't be told.

Forget about educating people.

I've tried with a couple of people at work - even the keenest green didn't want to know. Lent her a copy of "Last Oil Shock", which is still on a shelf at work, unread.
Only family member I've had any luck with is my mum - pushing 70 - who worked farms in the fifties (snow for weeks every year) and is a bit of a lovelock on climate as well.
Thinking about it, I came across PO when researching other things, and did a lot of digging and reading before I was convinced. I'd bet a lot of people on here were the same. If someone had given it to me in a lump, I might not have listened. Tess is right about the way to go.

I've given up on trying, except in conversations like Tess suggested.
Unless you can have a major effect on your company policy, don't bother.

I have enough on my plate trying to prepare and look after my family, without worrying about the wider world.
Can't remember who had that as their sig, which sums it up nicely.

TS - I sympathise; been there, done it, worn the T shirt.

I used to "dove tail" PO into conversations wihout trying to

- say it was going to be the end of the world
- speak too keenly about it
- talk too long about it

It makes not an ounce of difference - you still get looked at like you are some kind of leper. So years ago, I gave up trying to talk to people, and just concentrate instead on my own prep (hence the name), which is why I don't post here a lot, as I am too busy building stuff and generally prepping!

It is way beyond most people's comprehension (including mine), yet at the same time you almost feel part of some cursed sect.

Only yesterday, my elderly neighbour came up to me and told me he was ordering less and less heating oil every time he ordered as he can't afford it, and said to me "at least you've fitted woodburners in your place."

... all I could do was offer to help him install a stove if he bought one.

I was looking for an image to print and put on an office wall that could be the starting point of a conversation or prompt a colleague to do some research of their own and came across this website.

link

It's interesting how different a viewpoint can come from the same information.

I found this by putting "peak oil" into Google Images.



and this



but there are hundreds more. One to suit all occaisions, in fact.

The only time I've ever tried to explain directly the peak oil concept (eight years ago) I got this:
A hard look followed by "we're NOT running out of oil".

If it comes up since then I try to talk about supply being limited by production and they can't build enough rigs to get more oil out because they are running flat out in the factories. I then throw in "the oil companies also are in no hurry to build more because they make more money if the supply is tight".

Then the bombshell: if you're interested in more details go to the oil drum on the internet (the oil drum is fairly easy to remember and less scary than dieoff or lifeaftertheoilcrash).

A few times I've done that I've been surprised to find out that they believe completely. But it doesn't seem to change most people I find. They must be more sanguine than I.
It's only recently (after ten years) I've been able to not get all worked up about it. There's no point. It's here now.

don't sweat it, this isn't a religion where you have to try and convert people. PO could play out in so many ways that your internal scanarios may not play out, stay relaxed, keep informed and aim to be as sustainable as you can

From my own observations, things are changing. Ditto above remarks when talking to people about PO in my past 3 workplaces, but I have heard people at my new job openly saying that petrol is going to keep going up, and there is a general recognition that things are going to get hard. Heard the same at the hairdressers. There are of course legions of resisters and the blissfully unaware. They are going to have to wake up soon. It is hard to know what will happen - do y'all reckon that Julian Darling's contention that people will get angry about lots of discreet future failures but will not put them all together and look at resource depletion as the overall problem? Definitely could go that way, p'haps the deciding factor will be political leadership. Dunno really.

I use a mug like this at work. I wondered what folk would say and waited for the comments. NONE!

Image on the mug:

leroy wrote:There are of course legions of resisters and the blissfully unaware. They are going to have to wake up soon. It is hard to know what will happen - do y'all reckon that Julian Darling's contention that people will get angry about lots of discreet future failures but will not put them all together and look at resource depletion as the overall problem?

Absolutely. The average Joe in the UK struggles with an abacus let alone the concept of PO.

It sounds very callous I know, but now is the time to make your own post PO arrangements. Don't waste valuable time trying to educate those who do not wish to listen.