We're doomed Captain Mainwaring.....

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We're doomed Captain Mainwaring.....
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Cardinal Fang

Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 224
Location: Shropshire

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 3:04 pm Post subject: We're doomed Captain Mainwaring.....
To follow up the Peak Oil article, here is a chilling (probably quite literally) major article from the Indy today- well worth buying the newspaper just for this, which comes in a pull-out https://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article339928.ece

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 3:06 pm Post subject:
Well, last one out wouldn't need to turn off the light.....

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 3:11 pm Post subject:
Don't forget that the Gaia Theory bloke (sorry, his name escapes me) reckons that we've passed the tipping point on global warming so that all the feed-back loops are just making it worse now.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 3:15 pm Post subject:
James(?) Lovelock.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 3:19 pm Post subject:
That's him.

oldhibberd

Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 118

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 4:18 pm Post subject:
I've been reading quite a lot about this peak oil issue over the last few weeks. It really scares the C**p out of me. Perhaps I'm being unduly pessimistic, but it really does seem it's almost too late. Yes I think we may well really all be doomed.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45672
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 4:21 pm Post subject:

oldhibberd wrote:

Yes I think we may well really all be doomed.

I don't think so, we're quite an ingenious species really even with our destructive power. If I'm wrong then that's life (or death even), not a lot to worry about, the world'll probably be better off without us.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 4:44 pm Post subject:
... an I'd just costed up my driving and realised that fuel was such a minor part of it that (financially at least) I shouldn't be worrying about fuel consumption. Perhaps I should just buy a bicycle instead More seriously what sort of contribution could biofuels make to that energy requirement?

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 4:54 pm Post subject:

JB wrote:

More seriously what sort of contribution could biofuels make to that energy requirement?

I assume that you mean to world oil consumption? I think that the answer is, not great, but I can't find you a suitable reference at this time of the week. Basically, biofuels would be competing with food for use of the land. And, at the same time, all those fossil fuels used in agribusiness for fertilizers etc. will be running out, putting greater pressure on land.

Unfortunately, it's not the answer, and unlike Tahir, I'm not so sanguine and I'm not sure that there is an answer,

Private Frazer.

oldhibberd

Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 118

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 5:06 pm Post subject:

[quote="JB

More seriously what sort of contribution could biofuels make to that energy requirement?[/quote]

JB, It's much more serious than that. The issue is that without huge inputs of petrochemicals there will be nothing like enough land on the face of the earth to feed the current six billion inhabitants, let alone the projected 9 Billion by 2050.

But I agree with Tahir, the earth will be better off without us.

puffedpride

Joined: 05 Nov 2005
Posts: 300
Location: bristol

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 5:13 pm Post subject:
Aye, we're all doomed! The more you look at these things the more overwhelming seem the odds against us as a species. Recycling all those scraps of aluminium foil for nothing.................

oldhibberd

Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 118

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 5:26 pm Post subject:
The thing that struck me most, In one paper on the subject is this:- If the basic problem is that without oil the planet can support no more than (say) 2 billion people, the longer the oil lasts the higher the population will get before it runs out. So all the recycling,renewable energy, conservation etc is delaying the inevitable, and meaning more people get wiped out when it happens.

aisling

Joined: 14 Jul 2005
Posts: 16

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 5:32 pm Post subject:
Hi Don't post here often but spotted this thread. Peak Oil has been freaking me out for a year or so now - anyway, Powerswitch is a UK based peakoil site, worth a look. They're discussing this supplement today too: https://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/about1554.html&highlight=[/url]

Cardinal Fang

Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 224
Location: Shropshire

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 6:05 pm Post subject:

aisling wrote:

Hi

Don't post here often but spotted this thread. Peak Oil has been freaking me out for a year or so now - anyway, Powerswitch is a UK based peakoil site, worth a look. They're discussing this supplement today too:

https://www.powerswitch.org.uk/forum/about1554.html&highlight=[/url]

Some informed views on there- makes me feel even more pessimistic....

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 06 8:37 pm Post subject:
All we can probably do is live the best we can as individuals, and spread awareness wherever possible...very frightening stuff

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