End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

[Brother John]

Re: End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

We shouldn't be so dependent on oil. I'm willing to buy recycled products, and recycle things. And the government should be investing time/money into finding alternative fuel sources and making renewable energy more available and used. Perhaps they could figure out how to make a decent sized "smart car" too (Those things are tiny, they look so unsafe if they were to get into a crash). If oil is going to be a problem, for whatever reason, people should be looking for alternatives and solutions, not getting into a panic or jacking up the price. Supply and demand is a powerful thing, and maybe if we start using less supply and having less demand, there will be enough to share when we REALLY need to use it.

If you don't want to be dependant on oil, you'll have to pay for it. In the US prices are half of what they are over here, so you're fairly lucky still. Currently it's the prime energy source, and it's that way for a reason. Any other means of energy just aren't as efficient, excepting maybe nuclear power, and in the future fusion plants (both of which I back).
Anyhow, our growing energy demands will eventually lead us to exploiting entire continents, yea planets purely for energy. Simply recycling isn't going to change much about that, it may at most prolong the 'end'. If you want us to make a difference, we'd all have to leap back centuries, as R-R-R explained.

[OnYourKnees]

Re: End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

If people start to see solutions, and do their part, the world ISN'T going to come to an end just because of oil.

My dear Pizza, you're missing some important points. Allow me to elucidate:

• Pesticides are made from oil;
  Commercial fertilizers are made from ammonia, which is made from natural gas, which will peak about 10 year after oil peaks;
  

Er...how about DON'T spray the food you are going to be eating with chemicals?

Er...the only way to maintain current levels of production requires those chemicals. Transition to "natural pesticides" and "natural fertilizers" requires tremendous change in production, and energy (from oil) to achieve that transition.

With the exception of a few experimental prototypes, all farming implements such as tractors and trailers are constructed and powered using oil;

Aren't there metal tractors? If people can, they should grow their own vegetables, or buy locally grown ones. Handpicking could be good exersize too.

Er, yes. They're metal (and plastic, derived from oil). By "constructed", the author means that the tremendous amount of energy required to BUILD a tractor (heating the metal til it melts and forming it, machining parts, building the computer controls for the engine, etc.) comes from oil. A typical car requires the energy of 20 barrels of oil to construct; an industrial tractor is much larger than a car. And then they have to run on something -- either oil, or biodiesel, or ethanol.

Producing biodiesel or ethanol requires devoting huge tracts of land to growing crops for fuel, instead of crops for food.

• Food storage systems such as refrigerators are manufactured in oil-powered plants, distributed across oil-powered transportation networks and usually run on electricity, which most often comes from natural gas or coal;

Okay, the appliances being MADE out of oil is a little bit of a problem, we can recycle the parts of old appliances, and other recyclable goods. And use renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power. Oh, and not buying such heavily packaged goods, and using reusable bags instead of plastic ones that are thrown away.

The appliances are made using power derived from oil. The plastics, of course, are also derived from oil.


In the US, the average piece of food is transported almost 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. In Canada, the average piece of food is transported 5,000 miles from where it is produced to where it is consumed.

Again, that goes back to the "eating locally grown food" thing.

Tell that to someone living in Arizona or Montana. Arizona, you can grow stuff almost year-round . . . if you have power to pump water from Colorado.

Where does our electricity come from? Mostly oil or natural gas.

We all ate locally a hundred years ago, right? Let's see, in 1900, the earth's population was 1.6 billion. Now, it's over 6 billion. There were 76 million people in the US in 1900. Now, almost 300 million.

It'd be lovely if we could all live on a little farm and grow our own food, but there's not enough land, water, or equipment for that to happen. And many people live in places where it simply isn't possibly to grow enough food to survive the winter (or the summer, if you're in Arizona or Texas).


I know I'm not a perfect example myself, but there definatly ARE some ways to avoid or delay the oil from running out, if more people would act.

We shouldn't be so dependent on oil. I'm willing to buy recycled products, and recycle things. And the government should be investing time/money into finding alternative fuel sources and making renewable energy more available and used. Perhaps they could figure out how to make a decent sized "smart car" too (Those things are tiny, they look so unsafe if they were to get into a crash). If oil is going to be a problem, for whatever reason, people should be looking for alternatives and solutions, not getting into a panic or jacking up the price. Supply and demand is a powerful thing, and maybe if we start using less supply and having less demand, there will be enough to share when we REALLY need to use it.

Yes, we can delay the oil running out. Godly GW Bush is doing just that, by claiming the Middle East petroleum for us!

That will give us time to transition to a "renewable power" economy.

See thread HERE for discussion of how Godly GW Bush is trying to save the United States from collapse by acting now.

I'm not in any way knocking your suggestions of eating locally, and using renewable or reusable items, or recycling. They're important steps. But they won't change the fact that the world runs on cheap oil.

[R-R-R]

Re: End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

Can you keep your voice down and pay attention to your local media. We can't just go in and say we're going to nuke them for oil. We can however go in and nuke them when there seems to be a threat of them nuking us. Don't spoil the surprise.

Sorry 'bout that.

[Deaner]

Re: End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

Wouldn't it be an idea to nuke most of the non-American population, so they will stop consuming oil products?

Can you keep your voice down and pay attention to your local media. We can't just go in and say we're going to nuke them for oil. We can however go in and nuke them when there seems to be a threat of them nuking us. Don't spoil the surprise.

[R-R-R]

Re: End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

So the world will be increasingly more deprived of oil products and we'll be thrown back ages regarding the level of society. This will most likely result in famine, plague, war. But not the end of all life on earth I think. Not even the end of all human life, though surely our numbers will drop dramatically.

Wouldn't it be an idea to nuke most of the non-American population, so they will stop consuming oil products?

[SinisterPizza]

Re: End of Civilization . . . Is Jesus Coming?

If people start to see solutions, and do their part, the world ISN'T going to come to an end just because of oil.

• Pesticides are made from oil;
  

• Commercial fertilizers are made from ammonia, which is made from natural gas, which will peak about 10 year after oil peaks;
  

Er...how about DON'T spray the food you are going to be eating with chemicals?

• With the exception of a few experimental prototypes, all farming implements such as tractors and trailers are constructed and powered using oil;
  

Aren't there metal tractors? If people can, they should grow their own vegetables, or buy locally grown ones. Handpicking could be good exersize too.

• Food storage systems such as refrigerators are manufactured in oil-powered plants, distributed across oil-powered transportation networks and usually run on electricity, which most often comes from natural gas or coal;

Okay, the appliances being MADE out of oil is a little bit of a problem, we can recycle the parts of old appliances, and other recyclable goods. And use renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power. Oh, and not buying such heavily packaged goods, and using reusable bags instead of plastic ones that are thrown away.



In the US, the average piece of food is transported almost 1,500 miles before it gets to your plate. In Canada, the average piece of food is transported 5,000 miles from where it is produced to where it is consumed.

Again, that goes back to the "eating locally grown food" thing.

I know I'm not a perfect example myself, but there definatly ARE some ways to avoid or delay the oil from running out, if more people would act.

We shouldn't be so dependent on oil. I'm willing to buy recycled products, and recycle things. And the government should be investing time/money into finding alternative fuel sources and making renewable energy more available and used. Perhaps they could figure out how to make a decent sized "smart car" too (Those things are tiny, they look so unsafe if they were to get into a crash). If oil is going to be a problem, for whatever reason, people should be looking for alternatives and solutions, not getting into a panic or jacking up the price. Supply and demand is a powerful thing, and maybe if we start using less supply and having less demand, there will be enough to share when we REALLY need to use it.

[OnYourKnees]

Firends, this article should give us great joy! A prominent University of Arizona researcher predicts the violent collapse of civilization . . . SOON!

Apocalypse Soon?
A UA professor thinks an oil crisis is imminent--so kiss your old life goodbye
By SAXON BURNS


Professor Guy McPherson understands why it's hard for people to accept it when he says the world as they know it is about to end.


It was a warm springtime morning, and McPherson had gestured toward the street from the back room of a University Boulevard coffee shop. The UA was on spring break, and the frenetic atmosphere that usually grips Main Gate Plaza at that time of day was vacationing along with the students. Everything was bathed in a lazy, sun-kissed sheen that made it perfect weather for sipping lemonade and napping.

"How could things be bad?" said McPherson, a professor of natural resources and evolutionary biology, who has written two guest commentaries for the Weekly on the topic (March 1, 2007, and April 27, 2006). "It's a beautiful day. It's lovely here in Tucson, Arizona, in the springtime. It's fantastic! How could anything be different than this? You're asking people to change their entire perception, their entire image of the way the world works, pretty much overnight. It's a hard sell."
The mop-topped McPherson, whose friends call him "The Prophet of Doom," had come from the shop's upstairs study room, where he had a meeting regarding the purchase of a piece of land in Sulphur Springs Valley. He, his partner/wife and a handful of friends were looking to live there after the oil-dependent economy collapses--and with it, American society.

More at the website.

Then there's this site, which also indicates that Jesus is coming soon!