[Dialogue] After the oil runs out (Wash. Post)

[opossum2@att.net]

John,

Thanks for sending this link.  As someone who has been working as a geoscientist since 1970, I am really glad to see someone discussing Hubbert's work in laymen's terms.  In the late 1970's it became pretty obvious that Hubbert's prediction was right on the mark, in that domestic production of oil and gas had obviously peaked and was not going to rebound.  At that point the body of petroleum geoscientists (geologists, geophysicists, reservoir engineers, and petroleum engineers) essentially split into two camps:

1.  The Malthusians, who believe that growth of population will continue to outstrip geometrically the ability of society to produce the commodities needed to ensure a continually improving quality of life, and
2.  The Cornucopians, who insist that ever improving methods of exploration, production and conservation will provide a virtually endless supply of hydrocarbon-based industry.

We are now at the point where it appears that the corrolary to Hubbert's theory is becoming obvious, which is that worldwide hydrocarbon production has peaked.  The Cornucopians still insist that this is not true.  Being a Malthusian, I believe that most of the Cornucopians are simply people in denial, who cannot believe that their industry is a (slowly) dying one, and that we will not be able to always buy bigger and less efficient SUVs, always be able to buy artifically cheap gasoline, and just generally do anything we want to to live a pampered lifestyle cheaply and at the rest of the world's expense.  I also believe that a smallish component of the Cornucopians are the hard core "neo-Con" idealogues, whom, I am convinced, are truly evil, in the sense that they are servants of what some people would call the devil, and I simply call "those people who are so stupid and greedy that they don't care if they destroy the human race and this planet as long as they and their children die fantastically wealthy".

These are the people who would destroy ANWR  to put a drop of oil in a huge empty global bucket, who will continue to perpetrate obscenities like the Iraq war and the ones to come (I predict) in an effort to keep the world's major oil reserve-holding countries bound in a new colonialism, and who would, as a last resort, have us chopping down the world's rain forests for firewood when we run out of everything, else, which is like someone cutting out pieces of his lungs to throw on a fire to keep warm - the rainforests are the oxygen-producing lungs of this planet.

That's enough of a rant from me, but I do have some suggestions for those who would like to contribute to a better (and longer) future for this planet and all of its resident lifeforms:

1.  Consider making your next vehicle purchase a hybrid.  They are expensive, so start saving now.  These cars are phenomenally fuel-efficient.
2.  Do the obvious energy-saving things we hear about every day: recycle; use public transport if it's appropriate and available; keep your thermostat that the limit of what is comfortable, put some of your disposable funds into "green" stocks and other investments.
3.  Try to educate others on these points.
4.  If you're a citizen of the U.S. vote Democratic this fall.  Forget Nader.  He's a self-absorbed fanatic who is as dangerous as the neo-Cons.  If your district has some Green Party candidates running for local offices, by all means support them, but Nader is not a Green Party candidate this year, and since the so-called "Reform Party" (the H. R. Perotistas) has endorsed him, figure it out.

Just for the record:  My wife and I own one family car: a 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser.  It gets good mileage and is low-maintenance.  We are fortunate in that we can carpool to and from our jobs, so we only need one family car.  We live in Houston, so we use air conditioning, usually from early May to late October, or later, but we don't keep the house feeling like a refrigerator.  We recycle everything we can, and I have great little compost bin in the back yard that helps us keep a great flower garden by recycling our fruit and vegetable scraps.

One closing remark:  This is not just a critical historical juncture because of "Hubbert's Peak".  I belive that a lot of agendas are being fought out right now that literally will define the future of the human race.  These are times; are we still the people?

Best regards,

Steve Rhea

Houston, Tx.  90 degrees and extremely humid, but the tropical flowers are better than anywhere I've lived since Darwin, Australia.