Every once in a while, it is good to sit back and review reader comments and emails...Monday evenings, we'll try to pick a couple of threads/ideas that are going through our comment/email boxes and expound on them.

(Also, if you want to contact us, or have a comment or a suggestion, please note the email address theoildrum{at}gmail{dot}com over in the sidebar.)

The sentiment I want to address tonight has come from a two or three emailers as well as a commenter a couple of posts back...and can best be summarized as:

"How about having some guest bloggers, one's that can talk about steps to move us forward from where we are now. There must be some very brilliant people out there that are involved in urban planning & renewable resources, and and other grass roots people out there that are pushing for more public transportation, sustainable development, etc.
You research is great, and your site deserves much more exposure. But somedays my glass is half full, and I'd like to hear some positive news. Or at least some positive ideas... Shit, I am thinking about bringing kids into this world soon."
-http://baloghblog.blogspot.com

Baloghblog:

Part of the long-term plan is to get some other bloggers on here to talk about energy alternatives and the many other issues involved with peak oil. We're working on that as we speak, actually.

However, I want you to remember that this is a tough and real topic that we must discuss and think through. Unfortunately, it's going to be a downer a lot of the time because of the facts. We try to add levity now and again, really...but it ain't all that easy.

The ideas are complex, the actors multiple and powerful, the ramifications so severe, that I have to be honest, some days, I just don't know if I can talk about this anymore. In fact, I remember the feeling you're experiencing quite well. Then I decided I had to try to tell people about it, and then I ran into HO, and hence this blog.

The other thing to remember is that public transportation, sustainable development, and all the things we very much advocate, are only going to be helpful if they are accomplished QUICKLY and enacted in a coordinated manner BEFORE our resources run out. If we wait too long to use what we have to build the bridge to non-petroleum based economy, then we're pretty fucking stupid.

(See, unfortunately, it's no fun realizing your future is likely fucked...or at least going to be very different.)

And that's exactly the case, unless we get all of the following (and rather quickly):

1. A few dozen technological breakthroughs,
2. Unprecedented political will and bipartisan cooperation,
3. Tremendous international collaboration,
4. Massive amounts of investment capital,
5. Fundamental reforms to the structure of the international banking
system,
6. No interference from the oil-and-gas industries,
7. About 25-50 years of general peace and prosperity to retrofit the world's $45 trillion dollar per year economy, including transportation and telecommunications networks, manufacturing industries, agricultural systems, universities, hospitals, etc., to run on these new sources of energy,
8. A generation of engineers, scientists, and economists trained to run a global economy powered by new sources of energy.

(adopted and modified, but original from Matt Savinar)

Once you sit down and read through the references over in the toolbar and reflect on the state of things, your mind will likely be overwhelmed with the complexity, logic, and inevitability of this. (As I said above, mine is at times, I'll admit it.)

So, then, if you buy that peak oil is right around the corner (and the "when" is the big question, isn't it?), then in my opinion, the solutions must be viewed at two levels, one at the level of the individual, and second the level of government.

At the level of you, the individual, there are many things you can do to prepare for either a slow decline or a swift one. These include reducing debt and increasing you and your family's self-sufficency (in sustainable ways), including "getting yourself off the grid" energy-wise, but oh so many other things. Many of the alternatives are laid out by Matt Savinar here. Another great discussion forum that discusses this topic can be found here over at Yahoo Groups.

With regard to the government, and for that matter humanity, all you can do is inform others, including your lawmakers, that this is THE ONLY pressing issue of the day. This needed to be addressed ten years ago, not yesterday.

In my opinion, this issue precludes all other issues, because, in a petroleum-starved depression-laden economy, do you really think the poor and even middle class of our country will be worrying about liberties and rights as much as they will be worrying about jobs, food, and energy? I don't think so. Talk about a recipe for further corporatization of power!

In better words, our society's priorities are going to change dramatically unless we do something soon to avert this crisis and somehow find a "soft landing" for our society.

We can only do that if we get the word out.

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