by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
What I find most interesting though is that no one seems to be willing to let the people know of this happening and the conferences and neither of their findings. In the case of some of the findings of the British ITPOES it was several years before people in the UK finally became aware of some of the reports on Peak Oil drawn up by the Taskforce.
The findings of the ITPOES is that gasoline and other oil products could, basically, become unaffordable to the general public and industry and this will really put this country into dire straights.
The fact is that it is not just Britain that is facing this issue but, obviously, also the United States, and other industrialized countries of Europe and elsewhere.
Without cheap oil, and that is the point, cheap oil, the proverbial is going to hit the fan for we have become so dependent on cheap oil that all our lives basically revolve around the use of cheap oil.
We have become so very dependent on the motorcar and motorized transport that is it no longer funny and the problem is that we will be facing a rather bleak future without cheap oil if we do not change and that now.
All our food is being trucked around the country by motorized transport in the form of trucks and this very fact will mean that prices will go through the ceiling and the question is how people will be able to afford those price hikes due to transport costs increasing and also production costs as far as food is concerned.
The ITPOES report “Oil Crunch” of October 2008 – yes, two years ago and no one heard about it (much) – basically puts it plain and simple that by 2013 we could be facing the end of cheap oil and thus be facing real problems of no longer being able, for many of us, to get to our places of work from whence we live.
Commuting without cheap oil will be impossible by car and train fares, more that likely, and they are not cheap now, will become also unaffordable.
We all, in our respective countries, will be facing real problem “when” this happens, for “if” is not a question of if. There is no “if”, only a “when”, and that “when” could arrive sooner rather than many think, if we consider the way we, and especially China and other emerging countries, gobble up oil, gas and coal.
Brownouts, and even blackouts, of the power system could become reality already by 2012 it is being reckoned and with the Olympic Games being on in London then this could be serious.
This is simply because we could be then already rather short of supplies on the world market and it is obviously those that can bid most money for it that can afford the stuff.
We know that the likes of China already now are buying up the oil, gas and coal supplies for years to come and we, thus, could all be facing problems soon.
For that very reason we must go into transition now and move over to a non-oil dependent society and community. We cannot afford to wait and tarry. We must do it and do it now.
© 2010
