Richard Heinberg is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on ecological issues, including Peak Oil. He is the author of numerous books on the subject. In this interview he talks about why oil is such an important energy supply, our dependency on it and what will happen once supplies start to dwindle. To watch more great films visit: http://tv.oneworld.net
ALLAN
Comments
The proof is in the pudding.
If oil supply can easily keep up with oil demand, then why has oil quadrupled in prioe in the past 4 years?
Please spare me the conspiracy nonsense. As T. Boone Pickens has said, it is 90% supply and demand and 10% geopolitical. The easily obtainable oil is disappearing.
There are 48 major Oil fields in the world, 33 of these are in decline.
Many experts believe we reached peak oil in 2006. We should have been preparing for this 30 years ago.
Mankind has two main problems 1.) Overpopulation 2.) Overconsumption. Absent some revolutionary new technology, the decline of oil supplies will ultimately solve these problems. And yes, I do believe that many people will die as a consequence and please don’t get me wrong on this: In my mind that is unavoidable (again absent a revolutionary new energy source and of course a dramatic shift in economic and environmental policies) since we are overshooting the planets carrying capacity anyhow.
Will you still be thinking it’s such a good thing when you’re starving to death?
Please, look at You Tube to “The Air Car” It is an revolution. Made in France. A little bit of energy for thousend miles.
I spent quite some time pondering over Peak Oil and after months and months of seeing Peak Oil as a immensely bad thing, I’m actually beginning to see it in a more positive light.
With less oil, the economy will have to slow down and won’t be able to wreck the planet to the extent it is doing today. That’s good. We will have to live more locally and get back in touch with nature. That’s good. Population will have to go down. Tough from the humane perspective but that’s good too.
The next generation is screwed. I feel so bad for them.
well, I suppose it matters a great deal if it’s you and your family in the middle of the collapse and your starving. Permaculture, folks. It’s the best chance we have.
don’t drop dead but it just hit $119.52 a barrel as of 04/23/2008
the planet would be better off if the whole thing crashed
Peak oil really scares me too. Brent right now just reached $100.75 barrel. here we go…
but if our civilisation did collapse, we would loose everything that we have built up over these last thouasands of years. The advancements in medicine, technology. Wouldn’t that be a shame to lose. Surely it would.
that’s what I’m sayin’ Matthew, I always thought a ‘Mad Max’ scenario looked kinda fun..?
why does it matter so much if our civilization collapses?
- i think the world’s population has increased to 6 billion +, and or lifestyles are lot more dependent on fossil fuels now than in the 1880s!! Or even in the 1970s for that matter. I don t think Bush has the power to control the price of a barrel of oil… that s more to do with economics, i.e. supply and demand. If there is only a certain amount that can be extracted and we re halfway through our existing supplies… then the price of the remaining oil can only increase!
Never underestimate the power of denial. Sure, technolofy is there..somewhere. but’s it’s totally suppressed. people have idea how much they depend on cheap oil. nothing is ready to take its place.
but we can minimize the suffering if we replace capitalism and social inequality with a just society and economy based on cooperation.
*sigh* Bush wants to keep you confused like you are right now. what has changed? the global economy is totally dependent on petroleum. how the can you compare it with whale oil? and please do tell how we are going to magically come up with something to replace petroleum. nothing is anywhere near as cheap and abundant. your religious faith in capitalism is remarkable.
In 1859 when Drake struck oil, that was the beginning of the end of whale oil industry. In other words, the world withstood the peak whale oil crisis. So what has essentially changed? We will discover newer and better fuels. We also forget that between 1977 and 85 net oil imports fell by 50% while Persian Gulf oil imports fell by 87%! Don’t kid yourself, the crisis is no crisis. Bush wants 100 dollars a barrel oil. He gets rich and so do his buddies.
What’s even scarier is the fact that our population was artificially created by industrialization. It won’t be able to sustain itself when the system falls apart.
amazing man. amazing book.
If you’re interested in this stuff, google “The Oil Drum” or try theoildrum dot com.
I have his book “The Party’s Over”. It is probably one of the most important books regarding Peak Oil. A definite must-read for anyone concerned about our future.
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