Calm Before the Storm

[A new version with better audio is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZ_Ua6jtWM ]
Peak Moment 115: Richard Heinberg, author of "Peak Everything", reviews the accelerating events since mid-2007, including the credit crunch and fossil fuel price volatility, noting that we've missed most of the best opportunities to manage collapse. He asks, "how far down the staircase of complexity will our global civilization have to go until we're sustainable?" His answer: when managed properly, with deliberate simplification, not as far as we might otherwise. In addition to long term efforts to relocalize our economies, he advocates developing community "resilience" to withstand short-term catastrophic events like food shortages or extreme weather. Noting that healthy fear can move us into action, he encourages an attitude of clarity, concern and informed action in this "calm before the storm" that he feels is soon coming to an end. [www.richardheinberg.com]

For a DVD of Richard's presentation that evening for "Kiss Your Gas Goodbye", go to www.peakmoment.tv. Janaia's blog about this Conversation is at www.peakmoment.tv/journal/?p=52.

Category:

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Tags:

• collapse
• civilization
• sustainability
• overshoot
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[WhiteShark392]

Heinberg: "We could be seeing $150 to $200 per barrel oil within the next year."

PeakMoment: "It's here."

Three years later, the price of oil is less than $80/barrel. Oopsy doopsey.

[peakmoment]

@WhiteShark392. He was right, actually. A month later in mid-July oil spiked to $147. It probably helped trigger a bit of the economic collapse of fall 2008. So prices went down as economic activity went down. Have you noticed this year that even when there's plenty of oil, and gasoline prices usually go down in winter -- prices are not down? World oil production has peaked, and the upward trend on oil prices, though they'll vary along the way, is our future.

[soccerswimsing1]

Wow..... Who listens to this stuff

[peakmoment]

Good question. Mostly appears to be people becoming aware that the end of cheap oil is right around the corner, and it'll affect every bit of our lives.

[estoboy29]

iv got an idea to fix food and mat issues.place a pvc system over a building and run water through it, and let grow hemp for the first year to produce the materials needed to get eco friendly. fill our streets with hemp pots full of veggies and blast them with our lovely supersoakers. whos for that future?

[5starrater1]

when I first worked this out I got so scared I could barely do my regular job properly. A few weeks later, I had aquainted myself with all the local garden centres, bought seeds, dug up a part of my garden, bought a greenhouse, and planted. Thanks for the inspiration. x

[multiverse3]

@WhiteShark392 Well, petrol is 86 because of the recession. Did you notice, each time we have a better day on Wall Street, the price of petrol grows as much as the DOW index? This is why the recovery will never happen unless we learn to live without the cheap oil.. I predict this recession will last for about 30 years as we are trapped in by demand for cheap oil and the need for economical growth .. The only alternative is to learn to do the same things we do now, with less energy ..can we?

[ManicEightBall]

@rewards1dude "Just conserve more and promote energy efficiency"

Heinberg and others have talked about conservation and what it would take. at current rates, you would have to use a small fraction of current use in order to stretch oil out significantly longer. Unfortunately, the Chinese and Indians are hoping for a future with many cars so they can live like us, so any conservation you do will be eaten away in no time.

Don't tell me who to listen to. Give me a good reason to believe you.

[brradsullivan]

this lady is so funny ..."oooh ya, thats bad...right? " hahaha ps the comment about natives was great

[jhunted7667]

have the oil goes for electricity but they have discoved a generator that makes electricity for free , its over seas they won't let it come here along with other technologies

[anatoriac]

Whether you believe in God or any religion, it is irrelevant. We come from the earth, we will return to earth and all through our lives we rely entirely upon the earth, and upon each other.

I think the only ethical way to live is to take complete responsibility for our existence and for the existence of our children.

[TheNewRenaissance]

WOW! Seems like he pointed directly to the absolute failure of the 'God Hypothesis' at around 23 minuets. A perfect description of the fundamentalist Theists as the comments on this video clearly demonstrate!

[TheNewRenaissance]

At least parts of 'Agenda 21' are an inappropriate solution to a very real problem. Why would the oil companies be stretching off shore drilling technologies to their limits if they didn't have to? Learn about Permaculture and the work of people like David Holmgren, Bill Mollison and Masanobu Fukuoka. There is another option that really can care for everyone equitably.