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End of the World Postponed.

The end of the world, predicted to occur by the year 2010, has been postponed for at least 2 years whilst our data is re-checked and re-calibrated.

--The Coalition Of Peak Oil Under Threat Society (COPOUTS)

Apparently, our entire civilisation is built on cheap oil. And the Peak Oil lobby has been warning that it will all run out soon. High prices on oil proved that.

Running out of oil would be seriously bad. It's one thing to have to buy a hand mower, or perhaps a goat to do the lawns, and quite another to have to walk 30KM to work or school each day, just like Granddad. And who will push the combine harvesters, or mine for empty plastic bottles when we no longer have the material to make them?

So with oil approaching US$150 a barrel a while back, the end of world (as we know it) was definitely nigh.

Well, since July 17, in spite of a poor exchange rate, oil has dropped 70 cents a litre at the NZ pump, and is down under US$60 per barrel. It drops again today, and Shell Oil have issued a press release saying that the sale is now on.

This latest news is going to disappoint the Greens who will have found the end of the world a useful event to help curb CO2.

Still, they can take some solace from the fact that this dip in pricing is sure to be transient, and an end to oil will surely help Nations with their environmental program even as chaos and mass starvation ensues.

Last election, the Greens wanted you to vote for the planet. They had a backup plan along the lines of "Only by ending the world can we save it", with the imminent demise of oil.

I'm not so sure it remains on the endangered species list though. Whilst less oil is being found in the wild, in its natural state of a metal drum, others are suggesting that oil in shale will provide a much needed top up in the next 20 years.

Shale Oil is fondly known by environmentalists as "Dirty Oil" though, and many are no doubt expecting Obama to over-turn Bush's plans for Shale and keep America dependent upon foreign oil. It's the only thing that explains why America would bother to remove Dictators intent on building dangerous weapons capability.

Running parallel with this is promising finds in using Algae as a fuel source, improvements in solar, wind and tidal energy and suggestions to pour more money into R&D rather than just increase taxes and trade tax credits.

It's all rather confusing, but the bottom line is the end of the world will need to be postponed by a few years, putting more pressure on the Greens to explain why the current global warming has been cooling. Apparently, nothing a Carbon Tax can't fix.

And for those that need a crisis to care about - remember, we have Peak Water, Peak Fish and Peak Tax to worry about. And was that an asteroid in the night sky?


Related Link: Shell's November Sale

Comments

  1. The oil market is so manipulated nobody can claim it is supply and demand, although they do.

    All those people who ran out to buy little puddle-jumper cars are going to find they have next to zero re-sale value.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "End of the World Postponed."

    Dammit, but I had tickets....

    Seriously Zen, I think greenies would say this is the zig-zag graph of an unstable oil-price plateau:
    http://blog.greens.org.nz/2008/11/04/the-big-oil-crunch-within-five-years/

    And acknowledge uncertainties:
    http://blog.greens.org.nz/2008/11/14/climate-change-and-security/

    ReplyDelete

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