Saturday, September 17, 2011

Petroholics Anonymous

Peak Oil has a very slippery slope.

Will there come a time when the oil production reaches an all-time high that will never be broken? Absolutely. It is almost necessarily so. Even if oil is created abiotically, we would have to not be using it faster than it is being created to make a difference. A century and a half of observing the behavior of individual wells precludes that possibility.

But, does that really matter?

To someone who is addicted to the ever increasing consumption of oil, of course it matters.

As with all addictions, most addicts have a hard time seeing beyond their addiction. Even for those that see how their addiction is hurting them, very few are able to overcome it on their own.

When the addict keeps needing more and more, though, there comes a point where they just can't get enough. When some clever heroin addicts reach this stage, they go to a methadone clinic to reset themselves. When some clever oil addicts reach this stage, they go camping or take a survival course.

Hi. My name is John Wheeler. I am a fossil fuel addict. I have been using for 45 years. I am using right now. The device I am using was made with and even has parts from fossil fuel, and it is powered by fossil fuel. I don't have all the answers, but I admit I have a problem. That is the first step on the Long Ascent.

2 comments:

  1. John, I just came across your blog via JMG's, and I'm finding myself electrified by your terse lightning strikes of text. Great job! If you're not planning a book or some other more extensive form of public writing about the issues of overshoot, please consider it.

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  2. Bret, thank you for your kind encouragement. For now I am only planning on writing in this blog. But I have been capturing ideas for posts and starting them -- currently I am at 69 -- and I have been slowly going through and polishing them up until I consider them ready for public consumption. At some point (if I ever get caught up) I would like to weave these posts into a book.

    My goal is to catch up at a rate of two per week, so I do encourage you to "follow" me.

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