Peak Oil: The End of Civilization

[SistahSpeak]

This is an excerpt of an article that I think is a very important piece of information. Because the document itself is so long, I'm only able to post a portion. I encourage you to visit the website and read it at your leisure (if you haven't already). The End of Civilization is not a movie, it's real and it's not as far off as we think.

While you know I am not one to wait on a white man to save me, nor do I readily accept their word as Truth, I think there is truth in this piece and offers perspective on the matter.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the piece and the matter of Peak Oil in general.
S
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The End Of Civilization
By Dave Eriqat

13 March, 2006

Countercurrents.org

I had a mild epiphany the other day: it’s not President Bush who’s living in a fantasy world, it’s most of his critics who are. I’m no apologist for Bush – I neither like nor dislike him. He’s no more significant to me than a fly buzzing around outside my window. So permit me to explain my reasoning.
People look at Bush’s invasion of Iraq and see a miserable failure. But a failure to do what? Democratize Iraq? Eliminate Iraq’s WMD arsenal? Reduce global terrorism? If those were, in fact, the reasons for invading Iraq, then the invasion would have to be classified as a failure. But what if the real reason was to secure Iraq’s oil supplies, perhaps not for immediate use, and perhaps not even for use by the United States? Then the invasion of Iraq would have to be judged a success, a “mission accomplished,” so to speak.

Or take Bush’s seemingly irresponsible handling of the domestic economy. How can any sane person fail to understand that cutting revenue while increasing spending will produce deficits, and that those deficits cannot increase in perpetuity? Sooner or later that accumulated debt has got to have consequences. Bush appears to be acting as if there were no tomorrow. But what if there really were no tomorrow, financially speaking? In that case, the reckless economic policies of today would not only be irrelevant, but might actually be shrewd. I mean, if one knows that he is not going to have to pay back his debts tomorrow, then why not borrow money like crazy today? In fact, if civilization is coming to an end, then why not use all that borrowed money to stock up on guns and vital resources, such as oil?

Now, I’m just one person. And I’ve been closely studying economic, environmental, and energy issues for only a few years. And I’m no expert. Yet I’ve come to the conclusion – and I don’t want to be a “Chicken Little” here – that civilization as we have known it for the last century is doomed. Our wasteful manner of living – heck, the sheer size of our human population – is unsustainable. Everywhere you look you can see signs of strain on the Earth, from spreading pollution of the air, water, and land, to disappearance of life in the seas, to depletion of natural resources. Something’s got to give. Things simply cannot continue as they have.

If I can see this, I would guess the United States Government, what with its thousands of full time experts, probably can too. Now, if you are the government (and I don’t mean Tom “I am the federal government” DeLay), and your experts tell you that civilization as we know it is doomed, what do you do? Well, for starters, you do not tell your population of sheeple. That would precipitate panic and result in premature doom, which would consume the government along with everything else. Above all, government seeks to survive, so you would maintain the facade of normalcy for the benefit of your population while you use what time you have left to prepare, as quietly as possible, for the inescapable future.

What will matter in this future? Commodities, principally energy, food, and water. Everything else is secondary. Money is far down the list in importance.

So how would you, the government, prepare for a future world in which commodities are king? By securing today as many of those commodities as possible. Hence, the U.S. government’s binge of military base building throughout the commodity-rich regions of the world. What would you not worry about? Money. The only concern you might have for money is to prevent its premature demise. Hence, the smoke and mirrors used to paint a pretty but false portrait of the economy. Some will argue that the government needs more than just energy, food, and water to survive. True, but by controlling the bulk of the world’s key commodities, everything else can be procured, including human labor and loyalty.

In preparing for the future demise of civilization you would also seek to increase the government’s power as much and as rapidly as possible. Why? To maintain control over those increasingly precious resources, and equally important, to control people – especially your own people – by force, if necessary. Viewed in this light, the government’s aggressive pursuit of power during the last five years makes perfect sense. Ironically, President Bush got it right when he reportedly referred to the now totally eviscerated United States Constitution as a “god damned piece of paper.” That’s really all it is anymore.

So what fantasy world are Bush’s critics living in? The fantasy world in which civilization can continue as it has in the past. That we can continue to improve the standard of living of everyone in the world if we just return to a more sharing and egalitarian way of life, like that which we enjoyed between World War II and the mid 1970s. This is a fantasy. The Earth has finite limits. We are finally starting to grasp that fact with respect to oil. But oil depletion is merely the first in a series of coming crises ensuing from the finite confines of our planet. The fundamental problem – and I’m not a Malthusian – is that there are simply too many people for the Earth to sustain. This is why fish are disappearing from the oceans, why the supply of oil is unable to keep up with demand, why the globe is being deforested, why animal and plant species are going extinct, why water wars are in the offing. Perhaps if people were wiser and more willing to share, and implicitly, less greedy, we could sustain the more than six billion people on Earth, but, alas, such idealism does not describe human beings.

The one thing that has enabled the human population to grow to the immense dimensions we see today is oil, the resource facing the greatest challenge from depletion. As the oil supply diminishes, in the absence of herculean efforts to use oil more efficiently and fairly, large numbers of human beings will die off. Before then, soaring prices for oil will probably destroy the economies of the countries most dependent on the stuff, if not the entire intricately linked world economy. This is what I mean by the end of civilization. Of course life will go on. But it won’t be anything like what we’ve been accustomed to. Life will be more like that of the Middle Ages, in which a few wealthy lords controlled all the resources and possessed all the power, and the rest of the people – the lucky ones, anyway – were veritable slaves under these lords. In many ways that state of affairs exists today, but it’s unseen by all but the most observant individuals. The future I’m talking about, though, is considerably more spartan than what the worker bees enjoy today.

I believe that what we’re witnessing today is the inception of a titanic and protracted competition for survival: between countries, between civilizations, between governments and their people. Moreover, I believe the Bush administration is the first to recognize this competitive future, which explains its fundamentally different – seemingly feckless – behavior compared to past administrations. Bush’s favored courtiers, which include corporations, are profiting today and will become the new nobility in the coming New Middle Ages.

Truth and Distractions
The governments of the world, and the U.S. Government in particular, don’t want their people to know the truth. Governments usually end up seeing themselves as entities distinct from their people, and usually end up competing against them. That is true of almost every government on Earth today, and is especially true of the U.S. Government. Keeping the truth from people helps a government achieve its goals, for if the people knew the truth they might demand that the government start actually serving them.

One way to keep the truth from people, aside from today’s favored approach of simply suppressing it, is to feed them a steady diet of compelling distractions.

Elections are one such distraction. Elections arouse peoples’ passions and keep them entertained for weeks or months. Elections even give people the illusion of participation, when, in fact, elections mean absolutely nothing in a country like the United States, which is run by money. Of course, elections are run by, and legitimized by governments.

Sex is another good distraction, both sex scandals and sex-related social issues. Look at how much mileage the media got out of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandals. By comparison, sexual abuses by the government’s own schoolteachers outnumber those by the church, but we hear nary a word about them because they reflect negatively on the government, and the media cooperates in keeping this quiet. Sex between consenting adults, which ought to be nobody’s business except the participants’, also consumes our attention. Look at how much attention people pay to homosexuality. Why is.... (Please visit the site and read the full article The End Of Civilization By Dave Eriqat)

Copyright 2006 by Dave Eriqat

[SistahSpeak]

Bump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Coryb06]

Sistaspeak:

I ran a search for the issue of Peak oil and Black Folks on Google and came across your reply. This is something that I think most of us need to start to think about very seriously in the wake of Post-Katrina New Orleans and the state of our economy.

There's a lot of info out there on the subject but one of the better sites is:

Peak Oil: Life After the Oil Crash check out the breaking news section

[216 East]

Originally Posted by SistahSpeak

This is an excerpt of an article that I think is a very important piece of information. Because the document itself is so long, I'm only able to post a portion. I encourage you to visit the website and read it at your leisure (if you haven't already). The End of Civilization is not a movie, it's real and it's not as far off as we think.

While you know I am not one to wait on a white man to save me, nor do I readily accept their word as Truth, I think there is truth in this piece and offers perspective on the matter.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the piece and the matter of Peak Oil in general.
S
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The End Of Civilization
By Dave Eriqat

13 March, 2006

Countercurrents.org

I had a mild epiphany the other day: it’s not President Bush who’s living in a fantasy world, it’s most of his critics who are. I’m no apologist for Bush – I neither like nor dislike him. He’s no more significant to me than a fly buzzing around outside my window. So permit me to explain my reasoning.
People look at Bush’s invasion of Iraq and see a miserable failure. But a failure to do what? Democratize Iraq? Eliminate Iraq’s WMD arsenal? Reduce global terrorism? If those were, in fact, the reasons for invading Iraq, then the invasion would have to be classified as a failure. But what if the real reason was to secure Iraq’s oil supplies, perhaps not for immediate use, and perhaps not even for use by the United States? Then the invasion of Iraq would have to be judged a success, a “mission accomplished,” so to speak.

Here's my take:

Be warned, the current state of this pathetic country is that it relies so much on OIL, that it will say and do anything to control countries that export oil or are producers of it! With this country in Iraq and all over the middle east, terrorists are more destined to take action against this bold cowboy stomp on the middle east!

With Amerikkas lack of making oil and producing oil, it knows it must get it somehow and at any price, so it has embarked on its historical tyrannical misuse of its power and waged war on innocent lives on the basis of lies, as we are seeing with Iraq, and the ever increasing threat that the warmongering white american government gives IRAN. This country uses 21 Billion of barrels of oil a day which is 1/4 of whats actually available, and with the population surge of China, and India, amerikkka now feels threatened and will use our brothers and sisters in their war for control and dominance over the OIL production, and these wars are of the devil and for the devil's desire for SURVIVAL and POWER!

They're leading the world into destruction, and soon their will not be wars for control over land, but it will be "ENERGY WARS", which will lead to the armageddon that will end all!!!

Peace my beautiful sista!

[Istlota]

Everyone knows Saudi Arabia is the world's largest producer of oil. What few Americans realize, because our sad excuse for media will not tell us, is that the 2nd largest oil producer is a European country --- Russia. And, even more important, they do not tell us that the 3rd largest oil producer in the world is --- the USA. Yes, that's right. Right here in the good ole US of A, we produce more oil than Iran.

So, why, then, is US foreign policy so focused upon oil? Because, we are greeedy, irresponsible bullies who think we are divinely entitled to have _all_ the oil.

Hence, while in 2006, we produced a hell of a lot of oil --- 8.3 millions barrels a day, we also consumed 10 times that amount.

Briefing: Oil

But, our sad excuse for media would rather focus on how much oil China and Japan are using. Why? Because China and Japan ain't white.

They're leading the world into destruction, and soon their will not be wars for control over land, but it will be "ENERGY WARS", which will lead to the armageddon that will end all!!!

America's greed for oil guarantees our demise as a world power. Think about it. What good will our enormous supplies of WMDs be when we no longer have oil to fuel the delivery systems for those WMDs?

This is good news for Planet Earth. Our planet groans inwardly for an end to the gross materialist reign of Gog and Magog.

[216 East]

Originally Posted by Istlota

Everyone knows Saudi Arabia is the world's largest producer of oil. What few Americans realize, because our sad excuse for media will not tell us, is that the 2nd largest oil producer is a European country --- Russia. And, even more important, they do not tell us that the 3rd largest oil producer in the world is --- the USA. Yes, that's right. Right here in the good ole US of A, we produce more oil than Iran.

So, why, then, is US foreign policy so focused upon oil? Because, we are greeedy, irresponsible bullies who think we are divinely entitled to have _all_ the oil.

Hence, while in 2006, we produced a hell of a lot of oil --- 8.3 millions barrels a day, we also consumed 10 times that amount.

Briefing: Oil

But, our sad excuse for media would rather focus on how much oil China and Japan are using. Why? Because China and Japan ain't white.



America's greed for oil guarantees our demise as a world power. Think about it. What good will our enormous supplies of WMDs be when we no longer have oil to fuel the delivery systems for those WMDs?

This is good news for Planet Earth. Our planet groans inwardly for an end to the gross materialist reign of Gog and Magog.

Good Post

[r0CkiStAh]

Nothing will bring down prices today except a tipping point in perception. Getting off and doing something to increase out petroleum supplies would be an improvement. Letting Cuba drill the Gulf is about par for the course. Any speculation in petroleum markets is justified by our record of ignorance in defining a cogent energy policy. And now our U.S presidential candidates Obama and McCain are talking about it, the issues surrounding recent discussions on US offshore drilling for oil has significant impact for all Americans. US Offshore Oil Drilling- McCain vs. Obama

[Istlota]

The technology addictions of those nations the media calls "world powers" [China, US, Russia, France, Germany, Britain] and also Japan assures that our world's approach to energy will remain the same as our approach to computer CPU cycles. No matter how much we gain access to, we will find a way to use it all up and still require more.

Last year, a Pentagon correspondent told Wolf Blitzer that the US Military uses 340,000 barrels of oil a day.

US Military Uses 340,000 Barrels of Oil

You and I and every other member of Afrochat could spend the rest of our lives driving 18 wheelers back and forth across the North American continent and the fuel we wasted would not even come close to what the US Military burns up in just one day.

The solution to Energy Consumption is World Peace.

[Juice.]

Supply and demand fundamentals have absolutely nothing to do with the current price of gasoline. Peak Oil is the popular explanation at the moment because it can simultaneously forward the agenda of both neocons and environmentalists, but it has no factual basis.

America is blaming China, India, Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, etc because they want to divert the blame from themselves.

alJazeera Magazine - Are they really oil wars?

Read that article if you think that the current price of oil is a result of supply and demand fundamentals. It's not a short read, but it's a must read. It identifies the perpetrators of crude oil price escalation and explains how they're profiting from it in the futures markets and hedge funds. It explains how, not only is there not a shortage, but there was actually a recent surplus in global oil supplies. Iran just put 30 million barrels of oil that it can't sell into floating storage. The west creates this fear of imaginary shortages to provide wealthy speculators with the ability to drive the price up even further. The Saudis know this. Hugo and Venezuela know this. Russia knows this. Yet, America remains oblivious.

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by Juice.;182600[B

]Supply and demand fundamentals have absolutely nothing to do with the current price of gasoline. Peak Oil is the popular explanation at the moment because it can simultaneously forward the agenda of both neocons and environmentalists, but it has no factual basis. [/b]

America is blaming China, India, Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, etc because they want to divert the blame from themselves. [
url=http://aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=131649]alJazeera Magazine - Are they really oil wars?[/url]

Read that article if you think that the current price of oil is a result of supply and demand fundamentals. It's not a short read, but it's a must read. It identifies the perpetrators of crude oil price escalation and explains how they're profiting from it in the futures markets and hedge funds. It explains how, not only is there not a shortage, but there was actually a recent surplus in global oil supplies. Iran just put 30 million barrels of oil that it can't sell into floating storage. The west creates this fear of imaginary shortages to provide wealthy speculators with the ability to drive the price up even further. The Saudis know this. Hugo and Venezuela know this. Russia knows this. Yet, America remains oblivious.

Eloquently Stated My Brotha. Some interesting facts have been brought to light.