Seven Generational Ruminations

A blog about peak oil and the need to change transportation with this attitude: If you understand the issue of Peak Oil, then you understand that transportation needs to change dramatically in the coming years. This website is not about debating whether Peak Oil is true/false or when it is happening. I am already beyond that and I don’t care for that type of debate.

An overly alarmist look at the world that appears to be saying all the political and commercial systems are corrupt, elections are corrupt, there are oil wars being waged due to peak oil, conspiracy theories, incompetence theories, etc. Not that there isn't truth to what they're saying, just that they're being overly alarmist and hypestery.

[May 8th, 2008, U.S. House of Representatives] Congressman Roscoe Bartlett and Peak Oil, back together for the x[th] time. The House is empty, and while other congressmen are away kissing babies, Roscoe rocks the floor. This time he finally addresses the money problem in the form of MONEY LAUNDERING; it's a start.

Thanks to Ron Paul, some are beginning to understand that gas prices going up is not just about "demand and supply", Government (backed by the G.O.P. -and- the Democratic Party) is responsible for monetarizing the exponentially increasing debt (debasing the currency) which forcefully leads to higher prices. Nice tie.

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Congressman Bartlett and Peak Oil Revisited [Part 1]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtkq5D...
Congressman Bartlett and Peak Oil Revisited [Part 2]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2M-_5...
Congressman Bartlett and Peak Oil Revisited [Part 3]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6hzZ1...
Congressman Bartlett and Peak Oil Revisited [Part 4]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbReYd...
Congressman Bartlett and Peak Oil Revisited [Part 5]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbm7Fd...

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(Transcript)

Mr. Speaker, several days ago I came into the office early and I found at my door the usual package of newspapers and I opened them up and was placing them out on the table, and I noticed the headlines. And this is every paper that was at my door that morning. There were four newspapers and there were three inside-the-Beltway newspapers intended primarily for those interested in the Congress. I want to go through the headlines in every one of those papers.

Here is the Baltimore Sun, and they had two headlines above the fold both related to energy, ``Demand Eats Supply,'' and ``Energy Bill Aids Payouts on Rise.''

Then I went to the Washington Times and there was a headline, ``Bush Lays Gas Blame on Congress.''

And then I went to the Wall Street Journal and the Wall Street Journal headline was ``Grain Companies' Profits Soar as Global Food Crisis Mounts.''

Then I turned to the U.S. News part of the Wall Street Journal and what do you know, above the fold there were two more headlines, ``Bush Prods Lawmakers on Economy and Energy Prices,'' and ``GOP Senators Urge Halt to Oil Reserve.''

Then I noted the three papers that are kind of inside the Beltway papers: Roll Call, ``Alexander Eyes Energy Agenda''; The Hill, ``Politics At the Pump''; and Politico had ``Gas Prices Fuel Effort to Jam the GOP.''

So every one of these seven papers that were on my doorstep that morning had headlines talking about energy. Now I noted just a few days before that there was a New York Times op-ed piece by Thomas Friedman. This is what he says about energy.

Here is what is scary. Our problem is so much worse than you think. We have no energy strategy. If you are going to use tax policy to shape energy strategy, then you want to raise taxes on the things that you want
to discourage --gasoline consumption and gas-guzzling cars-- and you want to lower taxes on the things you want to encourage new renewable energy technologies. We are doing just the opposite, he says.

The gas holiday proposal is a perfect example of what energy expert Peter Schwartz of Global Business Network describes as the true American energy policy today, and I quote, ``Maximize demand, minimize supply, and buy the rest from the people who hate us most.''

THIS IS NOT AN ENERGY POLICY. THIS IS MONEY LAUNDERING, he says. We borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. No, no, no, we will just get the money by taxing Big Oil. Even if you could do that, what a terrible way to spend precious tax dollars, he says.

For almost a year now, Congress has been bickering over whether and how to renew the investment tax credit to stimulate investment in solar energy and the production of tax credit to encourage investment in wind energy. And a little later I will go over this bill that has already passed the Senate, and we have introduced it in the House now.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8565724

Oil prices might rise further. Some say its speculation to take out the fear, but there are some fundamentals like money growth which can explain the current and future prices of oil.

The subject of Peak Oil is introduced to those that haven't heard of it. An excellent website to visit for loads of pobcasts on energy and market is Jim Puplava's "Financial Sense Online".
Finally, I show that Ron Paul understands the connection between sound money (gold-backed) and our impending Oil Crisis from an interview featured on website "321 Gold".

World oil discovery and production has peaked, our way of life is coming to an end if we do not solve the problem of our dependency on fossil fuels.. Our civilization as we know it is at stake.

Peak Moment #27: Megan Quinn of The Community Solution discusses her visit to Cuba, and the movie "The Power of Community". This young woman sees Peak Oil as an opportunity to create the communities we want, but notes that we must reduce our consumption despite environmentalists' assurances that biofuels will save us.

The demand for energy has risen relentlessly over the last 150 years in line with industrial development and population growth.

And as economies of developing countries like China and India continue to grow, it is predicted demand will rise by a further 50% by 2030.

President Bush has already warned the United States that it is too reliant on oil, often from "unstable" countries, and that it must find alternatives.

Geologists are searching in Arctic Alaska, around the Falkland Islands and under the oceans for the last remaining sizeable reserves of oil.

But what will happen if the fuel crisis is not resolved?

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Blending drama and documentary, the IF series returns with a film investigating a scenario many experts fear will come true.

When the cheap oil we depend on starts to run out, we may not be able to take anything for granted any more.

DRAMA
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It is 2016 and the world is in crisis.

Global supplies of oil cannot keep up with soaring demand and the price of petrol is going through the roof.

The oil companies are in a desperate race to find any remaining oil reserves but what happens if there is no more out there?

Combining expert interviews with a fictional story line, the drama-documentary examines how our lives will change as the price of fuel starts to spiral out of control.

The film interweaves the story of Jess, an exploration geologist working for an international oil company, with the impact of the fuel crisis on her parents back home in Minneapolis.

Instability in the Middle East has caused an "oil shock" and the price of crude is rising day by day.

At the start of the film it is around $85 (£45) a barrel - in spring 2006 it is about $65 (£34) - but by the end of the drama the price has climbed to $160 (£85).

As the story unfolds, expert interviewees - including Paul Domjan, Former Energy Security Adviser at the US Dept of Defence, oil analyst Matt Simmons and the legendary former Saudi Arabian Minister of Oil, Sheikh Yamani - explain how the crisis will have an effect on every part of our lives.

We will not just be paying a lot more - £2.35 per litre or $5.88 per US gallon - to fill up our cars, we will be charged much higher prices for food, heating and light.

Long distance travel will become increasingly expensive and we will even think carefully before using the car for what we used to regard as routine trips to the shops.

RECESSION
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As the economy goes into recession, Jess's parents find their world collapsing around them.

Her father is the proud owner of a sport utility vehicle (SUV), but he has to put it up for sale as the running costs are just too high.

The daily trip to the shopping mall becomes prohibitively expensive and then, as recession starts to bite, he loses his job as a truck driver with a haulage company.

Meanwhile Jess's London-based oil company has been given permission to drill the first wildcat oil well in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It is a controversial decision as the vast stretch of tundra in the north east corner of Alaska is the last untouched wilderness in the whole of North America.

Back in Minneapolis, Jess's father becomes the victim of a road rage attack, all because of the price of petrol.

He is beaten up and seriously injured after an argument in the queue at a gas station.

As one of the experts concludes: "It is very important for us to think today about what we can do to move away from the oil age, to build a more environmentally sustainable economy without all the political and environmental problems that come with oil.

"And hopefully we'll develop a policy to move away from oil today, rather than waiting until a story like this in 2016 forces us to give up oil."

http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com presents another clip in the "Why are Things Falling Apart?" series. In this one, Richard Heinberg lays down the basics of Peak Oil and economic collapse.