A more realistic theory about the end of civilization.

I'm worried about not being able to afford the gas. Someone will come up with a reliable alternative that cars can run on. How expensive it will be is another question. We may have it but we won't be able to afford it. The world would surely end but what can any of us do realistically? We all have these dreams of walking everywhere, boycotting gas stations, etc...Personally, I need to work and I need a car and can't do anything about it. If we did run out of gas, the world would surely end. But we sit with our hands tied and our wallets empty.

This discussion is very profound. I am not sure where our world is going but I think it is more about greed than it is about fossil fuel shortages. I think that many of the major countries governments have a plan of a One World Order and they have to cripple nations of people before they can make it happen. The only real way to cripple the world is to mess with their fuel source. The US can put a man on the moon and a machine on Mars but do not have the technology to run our vehicles on something other than oil? This does not make any sense unless they have an agenda like the one that I have stated. What do you think about that theory?

Oil and gas reserves are huge and will last way past our lifetime. Greenland has reserves more than Saudi Arabia ever had, for instance but is not an economic proposition as yet. (well with the crude price rising the way it is it might be viable a lot sooner!) Nuclear power/electricity will take care of land and sea transport leaving oil for aircraft. Hydrogen produced from 'nuclear electricity' is another probable for the future. Coal reserves are enormous and South Africa has been producing petrol and diesel from coal for 40 years or more using a similar system employed by the Germans in the 1940's. Such ill-informed, shock horror programs come out on a regular basis. Mr. Gore's program on 'man's contribution to global warming' is typical of the genre.

Hi Tee, I don't believe that running out of gas will cause the end. I realize that this could happen within the next fifty years, but I'm sure new sources of energy will be found. Remember too that that our whole lifestyle may have changed by then. Blessings.

i think that back in the days before there as gasolne.. people made due just fine, and not onl survived.. but flourished. those things you mentioned about the machines and transportation are issues sure.. but only in the manner that the things theyre used for wind up reverting back to the way they once were before we had the fossil fuels we do now. think about it.. horses and wagons were replaced by automobiles and trucks. trains replaced mostly by the faster plane.. so in the absence of all the "newer " technoogies and machines.. wed just go back to the way it was done before we had them.. not be thrown into total destruction for the lack of them. we also do NOT have to have gasoline for travel in a car or truck.. we have the ability for solar and electric even hydro powered vehicles, we are just beginning to utilize this more widespread due to the gas prices and the automobile companies jumping onto that "go green" trend thats begun. me.. no, im not worried about my future, or that of my childrens. im perfectly capable of growing my own food if necessary, jumpin horseback to get someplace if need be, and sustaining mine and their existance without the technlogies if im put into the position of having to. would be less convenient way of life for sure.. but it wouldnt be that far away from the way i grew up, so id manage just fine.

I'm concerned but feel they are coming out with new cars everyday that do not depend on fuel make from oil. With the electric cars, and mcdonald's oil some are even running on. So I believe by the time we run out of the resource something else will be in it's place.

I don't really see where that should cause the world to end. It may through everyone into a major shock, but people lived just fine for a long time without the use of gasoline and oil. I will admit that it would put a strain on things, but we would just have to resort back to the horse and wagon days. With the gas prices as they are I wish I had a horse and wagon. But I don't think the world will end when and if we run out of gas. Good thought though.

i have the same feeling about it. esp.this year.

Einstein's theory of relativity explains that everything is relative. The astronauts soon learned (on their way to the moon) that there was no difference between "up and down". Likewise there is no difference in "here and there, back and forth, and black and white." In other words everything is relative. This includes "beginning and end," Nothing can begin, because it has always been, and this makes an "ending" impossible as well. Humanity has existed forever and will continue to do so. There is nothing to worry about, and there never will be.

I am not one of those people who feel that the world will go on forever and ever, in fact, for some reason, I find myself thinking of the world ending quite often. I must say that this post of yours is a huge eye opener. I knew that the gas situation was causing havoc all across the country but the way you broke everything down made so much sense. On the news this morning I listened to a segment where a school down south somewhere is thinking about not having school on Monday, therefore giving the children jut 4 days of school, in an effort to combat the growing concerns about the gas. Of course the parents were concerned. We are living in grave times II2aTee..........scary times.

This does worry me and, I actually thought about the limited amount of oil, a few days ago. It did occur to me how things would be if we ran out of oil. And, it terrifies me that we could very likely run out in my time. What I take for granted now scares me to consider losing in the near future. And, it is self-centered to think of how it will effect only oneself and it is naive to say, "well, I recycle and I take my bike whenever I can, and I limit the errands in my car to once a week" because that isn't even a drop in a bucket. It doesn't save anything but money in your wallet. But, with all that naivete' and self-centeredness, when revealed for what it is, leaves me feeling helpless. I realize that there is nothing that I can do. So, it is a vicious cycle of putting my head in the sand, picking it up in pride as I try to do everything that I can to help protect our limited natural resources, realize that I am not big enough to fix the problem, get scared and bury my head back in the sanctity of the sand. Living in Georgia, I have to come to the very real thought of how much longer our water supply is going to last. Long before they called a 100% ban on outdoor watering last year, my hubby and I didn't even turn on the water for the outside because we knew we would be faced with a 100% watering ban so, why bother watering and wasting that precious resource? We were one of the only people I know to take that step before anyone had to tell us to. We were careful with our showers and, did everything we could think of to save water instead of waste it. But, again...we aren't even 1 drop in that very large bucket. But, this drought has taught me that nature is unpredictable and, it already had me thinking about oil. Again...it all just makes me feel so helpless.

Hey Tee, what a fantastic topic to start! You're absolutely right though. But the thing is that alternatives to fossil fuels have already been found. Unfortunately, what has happened is that they have run out of funding for research. In an effort to find funding for more research they have sold the patent's for the inventions. And guess who buys those patents? You guessed it... THE OIL COMPANIES! The good thing is that when they see the end of their 'cash cow' looming with the dwindling oil supply they will start ploughing billions of dollars into the development of these alternatives so that they can maintain their monopoly on society. So no, I'm not really worried for my children with that one. And just think... At worst we will go back to the old horse and cart days. Just think of all the people who could find a job shovelling horse manure off the roads. LOL.

Fossil fuel is the life blood of machines but we can save some of it from some uses, to focus it's use to more important machine purposes. For example in transportation, we'll need to go back to bicycles, skates, rollers, horses and horse carriages for short distance trips while in some long distance ones I think steam locomotive should be used again. These mode of transportation will be no doubt be slower and will take longer time but its better than walking. As for overseas travel we can get back to sails. I think this is one of the things that we could do to survive. We need not stop, we just need to adopt.

here is what i think about it........ i am going to get the movie and watch it because i havent heard of it and it sounds interesting......... when the oil stops flowing or gets near to the end then there are going to be wars over who gets it........ first people that will be taken out will be the arabs because they controll it. second, thw 4 or 5 largest countries will battle over it, ie: us, chins, russia, great britain and japan. now the first 3 will annialate everyone else including themselves, all the poor countries will be left to fend for themselves. and after its all said and done when the dust settles we wont even need it for a couple hundred more years because the world will be reduced to small hunter gathering communities

They used to be able to live without gas, but I do think we are abusing things. I think the world is going to go crazy, as they start getting scared of what is happening. The prices are going so high, people will starve and the weather is going crazy too. I think it will be a mixture of everything.

I really don't know. I don't think anyone can really "know." People can speculate, but it could happen in an entirely different way. I try not to think of these things. I'm as environmentally concientious as I can be, but I try not to worry. Because all worry does is create stress. Shouldn't I just enjoy my life while I have it?

Tee, I beleive that we will then go back to the horse as our mode of transportation as well as using coal for train travel. That's not so bad is it? Forcing people to slow down and be patient because you just can't go any faster. Maybe it is what society needs. To stop thinking that there is an instant answer to all of life's little hurdles. So I'm not worried for me as I already have several horses to use. And I grow my own food already anyway, too. It is just the town-dwellers who will be in a pickle. Those that think they are better than us farmers because they dress prettier and are able to spend more money wastefully on whims - just because they can. And the 100-mile diet is gaining momentum fast. I am involved in it myself. We are just starting one up here in my area now. So this way, we will already be sourcing all our foodstuffs locally, if and when we run out of fossil fuel, we can transport it via the trusty horse once again. I think everything in this world always ends up coming full circle. Personally, I am sick of being on the end of the short stick - being a farmer and having no voice in decision making any more. There was a time.........when the world revolved around farmers and we were the prosperous ones that everyone wanted food from and had to pay or barter to get it from us. Once the gov't got involved and started giving our power away, we were doomed. But we have been quietly working away in the background anyway, still producing all the world's food. So we will not suffer from a gas shortage. We know all the old ways and our way of life will remain strong. We will survive!

Interesting view. But I don't think it will have such a great impact as fortunately there is such a thing as TIME. It takes time for price of gas to go to a point where would cause that problem. MeanTIME people will travel less and local community (one post on that upthere) will play its beautiful roll. Bicycles will become more common a means of transport. Solar power will become relatively affordable. International trade shall change formula slowly as transportation becomes more expansive (another aspect of local community). Portable power technology (batteries or its equivalent) will have its heyday. It will be a less polluted world hopefully.

Oil isn't a renewable resource and there is something else that we depend on oil for that hasn't been mentioned yet (unless I've missed it in my reading of the thread). And that is something that we seem to depend on tremendously: PlASTIC. The plastics that are in your computers, that are in darn near everything have a petroleum base. Without oil, our plastics industry would collapse. Personally, I find that there is a problem in the plastics industry anyways, considering that this stuff simply doesn't break down, and that there is a continent of plastic just floating out in the pacific ocean right now. There is this whole "designed for the dump" concept, things are disposable - plastic milk jugs, plastic bags, disposable razors, sunglasses, computer components, etc etc etc., all made with plastic, all made with petroleum as a base. Then theres things like the tires that your cars are made of, the asphalt that covers the roadways, etc. We need Petroleum for so much more than just the gasoline that fills our tanks and runs our vehicles. When we hit peak oil, and we WILL hit peak oil (not to be doom and gloom about it - it is a reality), we will have to completely rethink how we will live. Now, I don't think that things will come to a complete halt or anything, I think thats a bit of a scare tactic. But I don't think it's any coincidence that the US is vying for control over middle east oil resources as a way of mitigating impact on US economy. Wikipedia has something interesting to say about peak oil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil "Optimistic estimations forcast a peak will happen in the 2020's or 2030's and assume major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis obviating the need for major changes in the lifestyle of developed nations" *RIGHT* "Pessimistic predictions [assume] that the peak has already occurred or will occur shortly ... predict a global depression ... initiating a chain reaction of various feedback mechanisms in the global market which might stimulate a collapse of global industrial civilization. In early 2009 there are signs that a possible recession will be made worse by rising oil prices" So, OPTIMISTIC estimations predict a peak in the 2020's to 2030's, while PESSIMISTIC predictions assume that the peak is here or in progress and that there is a possible chain reaction of global market processes that will end in the collapse of global industrial civilization. I can't help but be nervous considering the real estate bubble, the foreclosure market, the credit market, etc., ... In some ways, it seems to me that we are somewhere in the middle between Optimistic and Pessimistic, and leaning strongly toward pessimistic. Personally, thats one of the reasons I believe strongly that we need to learn to live self sustainable lifestyles where we are not dependent upon foreign oil, but, it seem to be currently impossible. Okay, I need to get off my soapbox on this one ... this is an area that I'm really concerned about. The fact is, this *WILL* happen in our lifetimes and it is something that we need to be prepared for, one way or another. Now *WHAT* will happen as a result, is anyones guess.

"The only permanent thing in this world is change." ..yep,that's it. ;)