my brother passed this article on to me. from 'the independent' newspaper of london, it is a good summary of the oil (energy) crisis that has long been creeping up on us. as people of the coming kingdom - people of hope - we must take these things very seriously and creatively engage with a world that will no doubt suffer greatly as resources diminish. if you want to know more we would encourage you to watch "a crude awakening."
here's a link to the full article.
and here's an interesting couple of paragraphs...
Worryingly, for a world reliant on the dirt-cheap energy that oil provided throughout the last century, the idea that oil production in all nations may soon start to decline just as in the North Sea has been seeping into the mainstream. The "peak oil" theory – that oil production has reached its maximum and will soon begin its decline, bringing potentially catastrophic consequences to the modern world – no longer just comes from internet crackpots and conspiracy theorists; now geologists, market analysts and oil prospectors believe that this scenario is becoming reality. And within the past year, there have been signs that the major oil companies are admitting this themselves. If they are right, high petrol prices could be the least of the world's problems.
The idea is simple enough. Those warning against an imminent peak oil crisis – the "peakists" – say that while the world will not totally run out of oil, all of the oil that is easy to reach has been all but used up, meaning that producing enough oil to meet the growing world demand is becoming an ever harder task. Worse, we now stand at the high water mark of oil production. That means that not only will we never be able to produce much more oil than the 87 million barrels a day we now consume, but world oil production will actually begin to fall very soon, causing not only ever higher prices, but also creating the prospect of shortages, industrial upheaval, battles over ever-depleting resources, and even an end to the modern world built upon the assumption of a plentiful supply of cheap oil.
1 comment:
Good article....something that can no longer be ignored...but it is also amazing to me that so many continue to act like it is just a matter of turning on another spigot! As of my last check the Saudi sponsored meeting of major oil producers in Jeddah, and the their pledge to support the curbing of world oil prices, has failed to make any dent in the current price....the fault of "speculators" they say...there is no doubt that the "speculators" are the ones to be blamed for the higher prices....the only question is what is driving the "speculators" to push oil prices higher.......I think that this article gives us some really good clues....thanks Geoff...
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