Issues with your account? Bug us in the Discord!

we are SO screwed

shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
in Zocalo v2.0
[url]http://www.abc.net.au/science/crude/[/url]

watch them

seriously

it makes the Inconvenient Truth look like a minor PSA.

Comments

  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    Nono, our civilization is screwed, its amazing how much shit our planet and our species has taken and lived.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I know why we are screwed, because the dimwits who put up the videos don't let people cache the darn clips, so if you don't have a superfast connection all you get is a bad slideshow that nobody wants to sit through.

    Unless of course there's a way to watch them differently but I can't see how.
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Also, their pause function is broken.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Ok, so I watched the main clips and a couple interviews. I liked it better than Al Gore's flick but it's really way too late to panic now. The avalanche has already started...

    The main point is, there is only so much oil, and we are currently using up as much oil as we are pulling out of the soil now and that we need to slow down our consumption. Been there, done that? [CHECK!]

    Then they go on to tell us how many products that we take for granted are made of oil products and their derivatives and how dependent the West is on fossile fuel. Been there, done that? [CHECK!]

    They also go on about how crude oil was created and which climate conditions existed during that prehistoric era that contributed to the dying off of plangton and organic matter, something about CO2 levels being 5 times higher than pre-industrial levels of the modern era and how CO2 does affect climate change. Been there, done that? [CHECK!]

    Oh, and then we get to see a few dinosaurs and some black&white footage of the early days of the oil industry in America, where they produced 2000 barrels a year.

    All I can say is that those clips do not really answer the tough questions. I mean we all know this, and we have known this for years.

    How many more "can you hear me nows?" do we need? I also don't get this oil crisis thing, we'll get in trouble a lot sooner than we'll get oil shortages...

    The main message that I gather is that they want common folks to start living again like we did 100 or 200 years ago, environmentally friendly. They also mention the Chinese and what would happen if they all drew SUV's...

    I think it's time to stop going to Chinese restaurants and finance their SUV's. :D
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    So, yes, we are screwed, but what do we do about it? We'd have to change a lot of bad habits.... and then some.
  • HuntSmackerHuntSmacker Firstones Ambassador to Starcraftia
    Let's go out with a bang, enjoy it while it lasts ;)
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    well thats half the problem.... the 'marshmallow toasters', those content to 'go out with a bang'... doom the rest of us.

    All I can hope for is that enough pollies grow balls to enforce some legislation to bring us back from the brink...

    otherwise.... time to start building 'Earthdome'..................................
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    Um, has anyone every heard of market forces? Oil is a commodity and in almost all uses has sustitutes. As the supply tightens down, oil prices will rise, alternate products will be used in place of crude oil.

    It is not like every source of oil will suddenly dry up one day. Matter of fact there are a number of oil sources that to this point have not been tapped as it was just not economicly feasible to do so.

    Jake
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    And nobody ever seems to consider the value of Thermal Depolymerization. Because getting the exact, refined petroleum product from any mass of waste containing hydrocarbons in some form while using relatively little energy over the short term to do so isn't at all appealing, no.
  • MTMT Ranger
    We could always just wait for some technology to come around that cleans up some of the pollution we put into the air. I'd bet we develop that before the end of the world. We just have to make sure we don't develop killer robots that turn against us, first. Hooray forward march of technology?
  • HuntSmackerHuntSmacker Firstones Ambassador to Starcraftia
    So let's say, China loses it's oil supply before anyone else (unlikely though) - but then what? With their growing military I'd hate to think of the possibilities...
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Look what happened when we tried to deny Japan oil? They bombed Pearl Harbor. Just because you are getting no new oil doesn't mean you don't have reserves. All you need is just enough to wage war on a location that either directly gains you oil, or prevents someone else from denying you it.
  • HuntSmackerHuntSmacker Firstones Ambassador to Starcraftia
    Note, I said supply, not to the extent of every drop of oil.
  • MTMT Ranger
    If China lost its supply, someone else would step in and sell them oil. Their economy runs on it, same as all the major ones in the world. And if their economy suffers, they aren't the only ones that'll feel it.
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    Again, I ask, what about market forces?

    Oil will not suddenly run out some day, it will just get more expensive to aquire, which will lead to the use of sustitutions. I am sure that in a short term (10-15 years) there could be some economic hardships, I beleive in the long run, tightning oil supplies may be seen as a good thing.

    Jake
Sign In or Register to comment.