We should keep in mind that the end of fossil fuels doesn't necessarily mean the end of "unsustainable lifestyles" as long as we are willing to exploit our new understanding of the forces that bind atomic nuclei rather than those that bind atoms to eachother. Fission and ultimately fusion power hold literally limitless potential as an energy source. You could power the ENTIRE energy needs of your current gas guzzling, hot shower taking, fast food loving, big house living lifestyle with the fusion power derived from a bathtub full of water and a pinch of lithium no larger than that found in a cell phone battery FOR THE NEXT THIRTY YEARS OF YOUR LIFE. We are NOT at the inevitable end of a comfortable way of life because of conventional energy source shortages/climate change. Rather, we are merely at a bottleneck, a time in history where we must realize that our current sources of energy must be totally abandoned and new larger sources (atomic energy) must be invested in. The situation is precisely analogous to previous energy bottlenecks such as when entire forests were leveled to gather wood for fuel before fossil fuels were discovered.

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This video has been marked Long (called by gold star member James Roe)

having watched this whole thing i just want to say that by the end it seems like some of their experts are actively anticipating the validation of their theories. I Agree with gluonium, increased oil prices will lead to increased returns for who ever figures it out, thus there will be incentive for a great many projects. One of them will end up panning out. There has never in the history of humanity been a reduction in our energy generating capacity.

I hope you two are right -- I'm no doomsday junkie; it's not as if I'm longing for the day when it all falls apart etc etc. That said, just because there are theoretical solutions out there (for some, not all, of the problems an oil crash would pose) does not mean they can or will be ramped up in time. As for the standpoint that the market will automatically solve the problem, what about the fact that the market is petroleum-based?

I know a guy who isn't worried about the severe turmoil that oil depletion could cause (and which I think probably will cause). I asked him how he could be so sanguine about it and he said "we'll think of something, because we'll have no other option but to think of something". But just because it may come down to "sink or swim" does not mean that we will automatically manage to swim. We could be destroyed.

For me it's better to be far warned then be ill prepared so maybe the tone this video takes is appropriate. The forces that control energy markets simply don't want to lose their power over it, they want to be the providers of new alternative sources and then charge for it. To them mass energy for all is not a beneficial situation, so their hope is to work a system out that can be market charged.

Furthermore research and development is the bastion of first world nations, attaining a new energy source while the most common and staple one exists in the world creates an imbalance that gets expressed in other ways such as market problems or mass immigration to powered locations.

But overly agree with your statements.

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This video cannot be promoted as a VideoSift Classic because calvados is the original submitter - sorry.

*dead

This published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by fissionchips.

Crap, no good replacement out there. However, "A Crude Awakening" (similar) is available in slices on Youtube, and well worth watching. Embedding's disabled, but here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ppCU_vWSSI

http://www.videosift.com/video/A-Crude-Awakening-The-Oil-Crash-full-film

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Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Monday, March 26th, 2007 11:29am PDT - promote requested by Farhad2000.

Ta Farhad!

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Post cannot be self promoted by original submitter calvados because calvados does not have enough Power Points. (You can always purchase more Power Points.)