My family members are afraid to talk to me and there are "looks" at family events in case I open my mouth.
At least there were. I've stopped bothering now.
I don't say to anyone it was "peak oil" and much less the "exportland model" that made me decide to move across the ocean.
I simply say the economy tanked and I got a job offer and things are likely to me more stable during the "recession" where I am.
I annoyed people about it enough in one contract in 2005 that I'm sure
that was the reason I didn't get a contract extension.
I gradually came down out of my doom funk as I started to form a plan and stopped reading LATOC and then listed out the assertions and assumptions I found on latoc and then challenged them.
I then went and actually worked at an oil company, in Oslo.
I saw with my own eyes that certain assertions I'd been hearing over and over on LATOC were simply false.
Thus though I think doom is possible and even probable I think the shit is unlikely to be evenly distributed across the fan.
And I've now got to the stage where I've made the biggest change I could have made in the time I had and with the resources I had. There's no longer any point in worrying because I can't make any more differences other than the ones I already have.
I slightly reluctantly voted for "zero casualty rate", but its probably only at zero because I've made an effort to keep it that way.
I initially spurted on about peak oil to everyone and his dog, but it didn't take me long to notice how this would potentially put some relationships under stress, so I eased off in the end. Most people around me know about my PO concerns but it doesn't come up in conversation much lately, and I don't push the subject. I never bring it up with people at work - good friends will always put up with each others "eccentricities" but it's not such a bright idea to let yourself stand out as a weirdo at work, for obvious reasons!
"If we don't change our direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed" (Chinese Proverb)
Erik wrote:I slightly reluctantly voted for "zero casualty rate", but its probably only at zero because I've made an effort to keep it that way.
I initially spurted on about peak oil to everyone and his dog, but it didn't take me long to notice how this would potentially put some relationships under stress, so I eased off in the end. Most people around me know about my PO concerns but it doesn't come up in conversation much lately, and I don't push the subject. I never bring it up with people at work - good friends will always put up with each others "eccentricities" but it's not such a bright idea to let yourself stand out as a weirdo at work, for obvious reasons!
Right!
You can have people start thinking about peak oil without mentioning peak oil or hubberts curve or dieoff.
They will come up with the conclusions on their own.
(My wife gets a pissed off at my doom and gloom, but is happy enough with the preparations side of things. She sees those as a good thing anyway
- which they are!)
My girlfriend thinks its a bit weird that theres 30kg of rice and pasta in the cupboards of a house we dont yet live in, and has joked about "preparing for the end of the world".
My friends think its a bit weird I want pet chickens.
If I did keep going on about the end of the world, they probably would stop talking to me, so I dont.
I store food because its annoying when you dont have a tin of chopped tomatoes in the house, but it would be useful in case theres another fuel strike/job loss ect
I have chickens because they're cool pets and make free(ish) free range eggs, oh, and eat slugs, but, theres not really a but here, I can say I get free ish free range eggs as a real reason
I want a wood burning stove because it looks awesome, but it'll show those F-in ruskies who's boss if they cut the gas off again.
I am pleased to say I have not lost any friendships as I am perceptive enough to know when to stop discussing the matter.
I have a couple of good friends who have turned round and said to other folks, the likes of "Michael knows what is happening in the world", or "my knowledge of the risks and trends due to resource limitations is worth listening to" etc. And they weren't just pulling my todger.....
I had one instance of having to back off, rather than sour a social gathering. I was told I was talking "Rubbish". I just shrugged my shoulders and let it go. At the end of the day, just what can you do for "sheeple" who think that BAU will continue, or "The economy will fix it"?
An elderly (just coming up to 70) close relation takes the view that it won't affect him, so why worry about it. That side of the family tend to be blessed with longevity - most living into their 80's, some into their 90's. Hmmm, well that would take us beyond 2020. Fatih Birol anyone, I personally find the IEA on the optimistic side anyway. It is only the most recent of their reports that begin to hint at the gravity of the situation.
I have taken the steps I think necessary, and I am by nature an optimist. If someone doesn't want to listen to stuff about Peak Oil, well, I don't ram it down their throats.
I want a wood burning stove because it looks awesome, but it'll show those F-in ruskies who's boss if they cut the gas off again.
I used mine only a few minutes ago. With the amount of burnable crap I have here heating water and cooking cost me nothing and will continue to do so for a long long time.
Good for you with your back-yard bit. In a way I'm envious. I have almost and acre of derelict wilderness to sort out
eatyourveg wrote:You might have added an option for 'I can now gloat because several people have turned round and said "You were right!"'.
Yep. Back in early 2007 I issued a dire warning to my mother about what was going to happen to the US economy (because of oil price rather than credit bubble, but still...) My stepfather was rather skeptical. They wrote to their financial advisor who told them people like me were threatening to create the problem by talking about it, but basically tried to assure them that everything would be OK. Anyway, they decided to take a load of money out of stock market funds and use it to buy gold and a brand new motorhome. 12 months later their remaining investments had lost about 40% of their value, apart from the gold which had gone up by about the same amount, and they were very pleased that they had acted on my warnings. Had they not done so they would be about £20K worse off.
15% understand what I am saying ... but then say "Well, the Economist says we have enough oil for 20000 years" or "Everyone knows that we are hiding some oil wells." or "We can run cars on that new water fuel."
15% say "You may be right, but I have enough worries at the moment, so don't say any more."
Most of the people I know, already know about it (including all my workmates from previous job)! However last year the chap next door said "hey you were right about energy prices going up..." I need to apologise for the price-falls and explain it won't be like that forever...
