Peak Oil
Posted by greenT on Nov 11, 2008 · Member since Mar 2008 · 553 posts
Have you guys heard about this? If not, warning: it's kinda scary and depressing. The fact that oil is under $60 a barrel now is optimistic for the time being, BUT...
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
Thoughts?
Heard about it, think about it every day. Dump the car and pick up a bicycle. It's an end of the world-as-we-know-it scenario that is extremely plausible.
There is a great documentary about how Cuba has already dealt with peak oil. It might be called something like "how cuba survived peak oil". I'm sure you can find it if you try.
Yeah, we reached our peak oil a few decades ago. I have to say, it's not very possible for people to stop driving cars altogether and for some people not even half as much.
Why wouldn't it be possible for lots of people? I'd agree with not probable or not comfortable or not easy...
Some people, like me, live far away from work which isn't impossible but certainly not ideal when there is extreme weather which is more and more common each year in every season. Also, for some people its simply a matter of physicality, area you live ( whether its aggressive drivers, hills, ignorant cops who'll try to give you a ticket for riding a bike correctly).
Some people, like me, live far away from work which isn't impossible but certainly not ideal when there is extreme weather which is more and more common each year in every season. Also, for some people its simply a matter of physicality, area you live ( whether its aggressive drivers, hills, ignorant cops who'll try to give you a ticket for riding a bike correctly).
People are adaptable. It can be done. Persevere!
I tend to agree with ledzep. Riding your bike is great--I rode mine all over creation during college--but our society, in many areas, is set up for cars. Think of any suburban area. Any rural area. People who have to buy groceries for an entire family. People who can't ride bikes due to disability. People who need to ride their bikes in the dark through dangerous areas. People who live in snowy areas. People with poor roads unsuitable for cycling.
People generally do not live close to their place of work. For some people, it is feasible to find other work close by, and for some it is not. Our society is largely structured around driving, not walking, except in urban areas with public transport. Maybe in Europe, but the US is too sprawling and decentralized. I think it's a bit pretentious to say, "Hey you, just ride your bike!"
When the oil crisis happens, riding bikes isn't gonna save us. Think of the 390,434,832 ways we use oil in other ways. I don't think the demand for oil can ever be elastic enough that conservation alone remedies things. We need other fuels.
But yes, you should ride your bike whenever possible. But don't assume everyone can.
All I assume is that people can try. Yes, it sounds extremely daunting, and even impossible, but it is possible (in the vast majority of situations). I don't even know like .9876% of the info about biking, but I do know that there are lots of different trailers and backpacks to carry all kinds of loads, there are billions of different kinds of lights and gear for riding in all kinds of environments, there are even things to do to your tires for snow (I plan on riding in the snow..I just have to figure out how).
I mean, I realize that there are circumstances...but it's definitely not enough to say "not possible." I know that I was pretty darn scared to start riding my bike, but I'm now (almost) completely comfortable after 5-6 months. I've had to adapt to several different things, and know that I'll have to continue to adapt..but don't throw out the idea just b/c it seems so difficult.
Although I wouldn't recommend trying to ride a bike in severe snow/rain conditions, particularly in winter as it is lived in the states where it hits the hardest.
Although I wouldn't recommend trying to ride a bike in severe snow/rain conditions, particularly in winter as it is lived in the states where it hits the hardest.
Exactly. Like, Syracuse NY or any place north of it. Go ahead and try riding your bike in three feet of snow.
You don't have to ride your bike in the snow. Let's be honest though, does it snow everyday? You really can't cut down a few trips in your car? Maybe you can't bike to work, but most car trips are 3 miles or less. And for the record I have biked in the snow, and I do buy groceries on my bike. It's doable.
You really can't cut down a few trips in your car?
I didn't say that.
There's a difference between cutting out unnecessary trips in your car and using your bike as the main mode of transportation.
There's a difference between cutting out unnecessary trips in your car and using your bike as the main mode of transportation.
And they are both doable.
I can't say much about riding in the snow..since I haven't yet tried it..but I can only hope that I can do it. I think if I try, I can. I have ridden a lot in the rain, and cold, cold, cold rain..and some falling snow. It's annoying, but possible. We do have lots of snow here, but I plan on trying.
I lived in North Dakota for over four years. Snow started falling on Halloween and never melted away until late April or May. The roads were carved out just barely enough for two cars. People parked on their lawns once the ground froze. Riding a bike in that type of situation is not only dangerous due to the freezing temperatures but hazardous on the slippery narrow icy roads as well. Riding a bicycle in that situation would be suicide. Heck thats even in good conditions, not even DURING a storm.
Luckily here in Connecticut the snow does melt pretty quickly, within a few days or weeks of a snowfall. But still, our roads are not designed nor safe for riding a bike to get me from home to the train station. Even in perfect summer weather doing so would be dangerous. And I wont even begin to contemplate riding to work over 23 miles on either dangerous back roads or insanely busy Route 7. Both would be a big risk to my own personal safety and even that of drivers trying to avoid a bike.
Please do not assume that just because you can do something everyone else can if they just tried.
I am 100% cutting back oil consumption. I wish there were alternative fuel cars; like hydrogen or compressed air, already available. I would much prefer to have the technology in use today for these items. Instead we, as a collective collective, let large companies buy up alternative ideas and bury them decades ago. Now we are scrambling. It is stupid, short sighted and frustrating. But everyone riding a bike is not going to fix the problem. Its a temporary measure to get by.
Where do you get the tires from? Grease for the gears? Protective gear? Petroleum products.
Until the US is covered with monorail trams run on solar or wind energy with a station on every corner or someone invents a cheap, simple, renewable and safe fuel or engine, the dependency on oil will continue.
I would love to cut down the car useage, even if it is just in the summer time, but how do you do it with a child? I don't think they make carseats for scooters and getting groceries by yourself on a bike might be ok, but groceries and a kid?
Yeah gardengirl, my thoughts exactly. I guess you could get one of those kid bike trailer things, that the kid sits inside. But going for large grocery shopping trips would be impossible. You could get those bags that fit on either side of the back tire I guess for smaller shopping trips.
For me, unfortunatly, I can't ride my bike anywhere. I live way out in the country, the nearest store is a little convience mart about 5 miles away. The nearest town is at least 10 miles away. And the terrain is hilly.
Anyway, KMK, you mentioned Syracuse, NY. What made you think if that...me? I live in Syracuse, right now at least!
I awake to take my place among the living.
I'm giving you all that you asked for and more.
So when the end comes, it will burn bright.
Like ten billion suns.
Consuming tired worlds and closed doors.
And when the end comes, I'll be immortal.
I'll be the mountain.
Decomposition of these distractions -
Without an end there can be no beginning.
So I will march on, march on to victory.
And you will see me - The fire inside of me
March on to victory
Until my feet bleed.
For your protection
The mask you wear is forever affixed to your face
So you hide, fearing life and the challenge inside
Of defeating oppression through soul resurrection.
We'll know the path inside
Force ourselves not to hide
And throw our souls to the wind.
Those who fear judgment fear only themselves;
A forged existence.
But when the end comes -
Those who march on will be the ones who used hope as a weapon.
So we embrace fear - march on to victory.
Get up when we fall.
March on to victory.
And when our feet bleed, then we will crawl.
A humble maniac looking for the light
With imperfections and questions to ask.
I am not defeated, though my skin is rotting.
This march goes on forever,
Roots long forgotten.
I will rise to meet you as the fog rolls in under our feet.
When the oil crisis happens, riding bikes isn't gonna save us. Think of the 390,434,832 ways we use oil in other ways. I don't think the demand for oil can ever be elastic enough that conservation alone remedies things. We need other fuels.
Exactly. Similar to what Cali was saying too, basically every single material possession we own used oil in some way, whether it be the packaging, in the production in the machines that manufactured the item, in the transportation or one of the many, many other ways. It's alarming when you start thinking how dependent our society is on oil.
Back to the transportation issue, has anyone seen the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" If you haven't, it's infuriating to say the least. Basically, electric car technology was ready ten years ago, but government and the oil companies didn't want to lose money on all the undrilled oil in the world so they downplayed the technology, saying it "wasn't efficient" and "not refined". On a single charge, an electric car could easily run 300 miles. Like everything, it's all about $$$, which is sickening. In my eyes, this parallels the government's refusal to acknowledge how the standard meaty American diet is crippling and killing our nation. Keep meat & dairy in the food pyramid, you NEED them! Keep making gasoline dependent cars, you NEED them! Take a closer look and the economic impacts of making changes for the better are obvious.
When the oil crisis happens, riding bikes isn't gonna save us. Think of the 390,434,832 ways we use oil in other ways. I don't think the demand for oil can ever be elastic enough that conservation alone remedies things. We need other fuels.
Exactly. Similar to what Cali was saying too, basically every single material possession we own used oil in some way, whether it be the packaging, in the production in the machines that manufactured the item, in the transportation or one of the many, many other ways. It's alarming when you start thinking how dependent our society is on oil.
Back to the transportation issue, has anyone seen the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" If you haven't, it's infuriating to say the least. Basically, electric car technology was ready ten years ago, but government and the oil companies didn't want to lose money on all the undrilled oil in the world so they downplayed the technology, saying it "wasn't efficient" and "not refined". On a single charge, an electric car could easily run 300 miles. Like everything, it's all about $$$, which is sickening. In my eyes, this parallels the government's refusal to acknowledge how the standard meaty American diet is crippling and killing our nation. Keep meat & dairy in the food pyramid, you NEED them! Keep making gasoline dependent cars, you NEED them! Take a closer look and the economic impacts of making changes for the better are obvious.
I saw the documentary. I was pretty impressed and upset at how they did away with it when they realized that it was actually going to be liked. I think they put it out there thinking no one would like it and they could say they tried but there wasn't a market for it.
Anyway, KMK, you mentioned Syracuse, NY. What made you think if that...me? I live in Syracuse, right now at least!
I knowwww that. I am from Syracuse. That's where my family is.
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