OK guys, I've completely gone insane tonight. Listen to this.

[Peak_Oil]

True to my name, I watched a movie tonight called The End of Suburbia. I am now convinced that we're about to hit the second American Great Depression when we hit Peak Oil and gas hits $25 a gallon, and all of Canada empties into the US the following winter when it hits 40 below zero.

I am so glad I moved out of Chicago I can't even tell you. It gets Really Cold there, man! And, good luck turning on the heat.

The upshot of the movie is that they expect North America to totally fall apart at the seams maybe this winter, maybe next winter. We could conceivably run out of natural gas this winter, or just run such a tight supply that there's no way we'll make it through the winter without massive blackouts that keep us from heating our homes in the winter.

Their arguement is that we'll be "involved in food production in ways we never could have imagined" before.

Total collapse of the stock market overnight, inflation at 600% or more, and no need for professions like "lawyer" or "stockbroker."

Yeah. So... what to do now? Get a little tiny solar recharger for my AA battery-powered walkman?

[Spinzonner]

1. Ok, time to start

piling up the barricades around LA to keep out all those NE riff-raff

[xocolatl]

2. At least I have family in California....

... but I'll spend my entire savings driving there from New England!

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[xocolatl]

3. On a more sober note...

... I don't think we're that close yet.

But we'll probably get to that point within the next ten or twenty years.

[Blue Wally]

4. So

If we win in November and Kerry takes office in January, he gets to be the next Herbert Hoover according to your prediction??

[Peak_Oil]

7. According to End of Suburbia, it's possible.

They're arguing that we'll be at the peak very soon. It could be this October, or maybe next October... but the stock market would collapse completely. It might be difficult to find food. Welfare, unemployment... they wouldn't help at all.

It's possible that could happen. We might cheer Kerry on to victory in Iraq soon if it gets cold enough and we run out of natural gas. We might vote for all kinds of crazy things.

I need to calm down. Every time I really dig into this subject I get nervous.

Anyway, that's the steaming poop.

[Warpy]

5. Most New Englanders will stay put

People who had the foresight to install wood or coal stoves and solar water heaters will even stay in the burbs. They're a hardy lot who managed for 250 years with wood, then coal, and many bicycle all winter (unless the snow is particularly deep and the cross country skis take over).

The riffraff you have to worry about are the biblethumping Bush voters from the midwest. They're aimed right at you.

[kysrsoze]

6. Ummmm....it's a movie. Calm down.

Peak oil is expected to wreak havoc in 20 to 40 years. That still gives us enough time to start shifting our resources if we act as soon as the election is over. I'm not giving up and I'm not fleeing Chicago. I have confidence that things will get better - even if they get worse first.

Instead of freaking over the world ending, we should be doing things to cut consumption and increasing awareness of the urgency to start HEAVILY investing in alternative fuels.

[xocolatl]

8. My understanding is that there is no agreement about ...

... when Peak Oil will occur (or has occurred).

Estimates range from 2000 to about 2015.

Also, the economic effects will not be felt immediately. Probably take a few years before people realize what's going on.

Not to say that the sky isn't falling.... But it isn't collapsing just yet.

[knitter4democracy]

9. Makes me glad I knit

At least I'll be able to keep my family warm. :) It's not like my yarn and wool stash (I spin too) will run out soon. Maybe that'll help my husband decide we really need the woodstove I want (it also burns field corn).

[demnan]

10. Welcome to DU, knitter4democracy

I knit too, but not as much as I used to (it's a competive motion injury). I like Fair Isle patterns, what's your favorite?

When my Dad was in the last stages of cancer his ankles got very thick and my socks were the only ones he could wear on his feet.