From Peak Oil Debunked comes a quite wonderful rant about Peakists, those peak oil adherents who delight in predicting gloom.
For those of you just coming to peak oil, you’re going to want to understand the most basic concept of peak oil: The doomer feedlot.
First you’re going to want to go to a doomer feedlot, like peakoil.com or DrumBeat at the Oil Drum, and get a user ID. It’s like one of those tags that they crimp onto your ear. All the doomers look the same, and they’re all packed nose-to-bunghole into the feedlot, so the feedlot needs a way to tell them apart in case one “goes down” or flips out etc.
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So you get your head in there and start slurping those juicy news items.Here comes a shovelful: “Babies freeze to death in Kyrgyzstan.”, cheering the end of civilization
That’s got the stink of doom all over it, and the cows’ eyes bug out with excitement…
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You see, lesson 1 is that peak oil is not about peak oil. Peak oil is about the inevitable die-off of industrial society and mankind due to hubris and stupidity. Any news item which advances that thesis… goes in the feed.
This process (and it’s hardly just peakists who do it) leads to the extremists trying to out-do each other by making ever more alarmist predictions while mocking the moderates as being wimpy and unfit carry the banner. “Oh, so you think we’ll still have candles to provide light, do you? Not a chance, Perky Boy. Get ready to live in caves and burn wood.”
Peak oil and global warming are real. But the task at hand is to find solutions, not predicting gloom and doom.
Tip: Peak Energy
The possibility of doom coexists with the possibility of redemption. Both Star Trek and Soylent Green are possible futures. The wisest advice is, “Expect the best, prepare for the worst.” Following it would lead one to invest in stocks and bonds– and also in gold, guns, and ammo.
Peakist, I like that. Appropriate in more ways than one. Like in peak oil and peaking around the curtain not want to face things head on.
I have to agree in some cases it appears that a few of the Peak Oil group almost want a hard landing – a crash and burn. However, it really doesn’t matter what people may want to believe – business as usual everything is ok, I like the world the way I want it to be or were headed back to the stone age.
Its pretty clear that the market has not been able to supply enough oil to hold prices down. that global demand continues to grow even in the current US slow down. Its also pretty clear that a lot of the old super giant oil fields are passed their peak production and new fields and the number of new fields don’t make up the losses.
Any prudent person would be considering the impacts on economy and growth due to an under supplied market and the lack of real on-time alternatives -liquid fuels are a big problem — Waiting for the Hail Mary pass from technologies isn’t wise. It may not be the end of modern society but it won’t be real pretty.