In the interest of getting back to the “farm” work in the desert, I summarize this message by saying your essay and Nate’s is on the mark and long overdue. As a semi-technocrat reviewing LEED building plans for the USGBC in the spare cracks of time between making compost teas, tending to the bees, and raising a new flock of hens, I decided years ago that it was infinitely more important to begin the hands on work of relearning how to live with less, but more.

I agree with Sharon that many of the principals of the PO scene are WAY to peak oil centric. I’ve been there & heard ‘em say as much. In the end PO will turn out to be no more than a flea on the elephant’s hide of climate change, but as the saying goes; its hard to get a man to understand something when his salary (or his celebrity, or his self image, etc.) depends on him not understanding it. It is gonna make a lot of stuff more difficult, tho’.

Are we all doomed?? Well, in the US, the place where they want you to see terrorists behind every shrub, the country’s politics are so gridlocked a “super majority” can’t even get its act together on a lousy medical plan; much of Europe has lulled itself into depending on a proven unreliable (not to mention completely ruthless) single provider for a critical part of its energy needs (way to go, continentals!), and in Asia overheated economies and exploding populations are the order of the day, and pity the fool gov’t that ever should dare to stand in front of that steamroller. I’m leaving out whole continents, but ’nuff said. All of which leaves everybody plenty of time, psychic energy & penetrating level-headed insight to focus on the real threats. Yeah. Right. The earth isn’t going anywhere no matter what happens. So who, or what is, pray tell?? I conclude it’s going to be a lot, but probably not all of us. It’s just gonna seem like it about 40 years from now.

I would only join APPO. Association for the PREPARATION for Peak Oil.

I couldn’t agree more with Kate here – I can see for myself that a whole lot is wrong with the way things are going; as an individual I cannot directly influence the behaviour of governments or (many of) my fellow citizens, but I can change things for me and mine if I have the inclination to do so.

At work if all I do is sit around and say “it’s all going to hell” I will sooner or later be asked “so what are you doing about it then?”. Sharon and others like her are showing one possible response to the situation – standing around saying how ****ed things are now and how much more ****ed they’re likely to be in X months or years doesn’t fall into the range of responses I’d call “helpful”.