4 ms·

I don't know a single person who takes near-term Peak Oil seriously who is not some random blogger or pop star. Edit for the down-modders: Our "years of consum

I don't know a single person who takes near-term Peak Oil seriously who is not some random blogger or pop star. Edit for the down-modders: Our "years of consumption" for oil, which is known oil reserves divided by current usage, has increased pretty constantly since 1920. In 1945 we had about 20 years of consumption left, in 2000 we had about 40. You can find this stat as figure 66 in "The Skeptical Environmentalist" which sites the primary source. "Peak Oil" is an unproven baseless scare-mongering prediction about the future. It should also be noted that these kind of simplistic doomsday predictions have been going around since at least 1865, when Stanley Jevons predicted that England's coal supplies would run out and torpedo the industrial revolution. He failed to account for the incentive effects of rising coal prices. But you know what they say about those that do not study history...

khafra 18y ago
Perhaps the Shell geoscientist, Dr. Marion King Hubbert?
jimbokun 18y ago
I've seen Congress people talk about it at length on CSPAN. Granted, not necessarily a great vote of credibility, but does not fall under the headings of blogger or pop star.
- gruseom 18y ago
  Arguably pop star :) Maybe "celebrity" would be a better fit.
- aggieben 18y ago
  These days, random joe blogger has more credibility than Congress. Lots of people aren't happy with President Bush - he's got approval ratings somewhere in the low thirties, I think. Even less people are happy with Congress - they were in the 14% ballpark recently. I'm tired of the whole lot. There are some good Republicans, but I'd sacrifice them to wipe the slate clean. Term limits!
  - gnaritas 18y ago
    Not that I disagree, but what makes you think Congress will ever vote themselves out of office with term limits?
    - aggieben 18y ago
      I don't know. You can amend the constitution without congress, but that would require quite a lot of organization and "grass-roots" (I hate the phrase, but to use another cliche, it's used for lack of a better one) efforts. You could probably get started by picking off a few active and former members of congress to sort of "lead the charge", but the effort would have to be sustained through several election cycles, I think. You'd also have to make sure you leverage the precedent set by the 22nd amendment (presidential term limit). It's a bootstrapping problem, and a particularly difficult one because there is a reasonable argument against it (people should be free to elect whomever they want).
      - gnaritas 18y ago
        It'll never happen, that's the reality. I wish it would, but at this point I have very little faith in government, in fact I have none. They're corrupt and the system is setup to keep it that way. The foxes have been running the hen house for a long time.
DanielH 18y ago
Only popstars and random bloggers? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8183966529898602701 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8183966529898602701 I've seen the hearing at the congress last week, these excutives didn't look and sound very confident to me...

khafra 18y ago

Perhaps the Shell geoscientist, Dr. Marion King Hubbert?

jimbokun 18y ago

I've seen Congress people talk about it at length on CSPAN. Granted, not necessarily a great vote of credibility, but does not fall under the headings of blogger or pop star.

gruseom 18y ago
Arguably pop star :) Maybe "celebrity" would be a better fit.
aggieben 18y ago
These days, random joe blogger has more credibility than Congress. Lots of people aren't happy with President Bush - he's got approval ratings somewhere in the low thirties, I think. Even less people are happy with Congress - they were in the 14% ballpark recently. I'm tired of the whole lot. There are some good Republicans, but I'd sacrifice them to wipe the slate clean. Term limits!
- gnaritas 18y ago
  Not that I disagree, but what makes you think Congress will ever vote themselves out of office with term limits?
  - aggieben 18y ago
    I don't know. You can amend the constitution without congress, but that would require quite a lot of organization and "grass-roots" (I hate the phrase, but to use another cliche, it's used for lack of a better one) efforts. You could probably get started by picking off a few active and former members of congress to sort of "lead the charge", but the effort would have to be sustained through several election cycles, I think. You'd also have to make sure you leverage the precedent set by the 22nd amendment (presidential term limit). It's a bootstrapping problem, and a particularly difficult one because there is a reasonable argument against it (people should be free to elect whomever they want).
    - gnaritas 18y ago
      It'll never happen, that's the reality. I wish it would, but at this point I have very little faith in government, in fact I have none. They're corrupt and the system is setup to keep it that way. The foxes have been running the hen house for a long time.

DanielH 18y ago

Only popstars and random bloggers? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8183966529898602701 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8183966529898602701 I've seen the hearing at the congress last week, these excutives didn't look and sound very confident to me...