[Peakoil-website-changes] [DokuWiki] page changed: senate_oil_inquiry_submission

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Date        : 2006/02/24 07:23
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Old Revision: http://act-peakoil.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=senate_oil_inquiry_submission&rev=1140724573
New Revision: http://act-peakoil.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=senate_oil_inquiry_submission
Edit Summary: 
User        : 

@@ -179,9 +179,22 @@
  Combined with other threats to Australia's agriculture from salinity, water shortages and climate change, we cannot assume Australian and world agriculture will adapt seamlessly to declining oil production. People may be compelled to start growing their own food as a supplement to commercial production. People may start experimenting and adopting new approaches.
  
  Government must support innovators in their attempts to find ways ahead. An example is the case of http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2006/s1563374.htm Peter Andrews who converted degraded saline land into fertile drought-resistant pastures. Governments ignored and dismissed his work. It was //Australian Story// which finally turned the situation around. We cannot afford to have authorities close their minds to the many solutions that may emerge in agriculture, and in any other field for that matter. A scientific approach, in its true sense, is essential.
  
- === Transport ===
+ === Power-down ===
+ 
+ There are broadly four ways in which people can react to Peak Oil (Heinberg 2003).
+   * **Power-down** -- voluntary or enforced reductions in per-capita energy consumption and a deliberate reduction in societal complexity. Simpler systems are less vulnerable to breaking down in times of stress.
+ 
+   * **Last one standing** -- people and nations compete for remaining energy resources, maybe with nuclear weapons. The worst option.
+ 
+   * **Waiting for a magic elixir** -- living in denial or ignorance of the problem. This is what most people are doing.
+ 
+   * **Building lifeboats** -- preserving skills and knowledge of civilisation before its disintegration. This is akin to what the monasteries did during the dark ages in Europe.
+ 
+ Power-down is by far the preferred option. It would require massive government intervention, on the order of the Allied effort during WWII or the Apollo moon missions. However it may be too late to effectively implement, so consideration should be given to the “Lifeboat” option. This is not something government should necessarily get involved with but could encourage. During a prolonged economic collapse each community would be strengthened by the local availability of people with practical know-how, skills and knowledge.
+ 
+ During the petroleum interval we have grown physically lazy because petroleum does the work for us, and the danger is that we have become intellectually lazy as well. We cannot learn to survive without oil unless we get a bit sharper.
  
  ==== Debt-dependent financial system ====
  
  



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