Mr. Speaker

Well, oil is up another US$10 a barrel to OVER US$70 (60% higher than one year ago) - That means another Peak-oil update. Wooo!

Yes, yes, oil prices are up, yes, yes, we are going to run out. Pfft. These updates are getting a little on the predictable side. So I thought we’d spice it up with a little conspiracy theory - Nothing like a conspiracy theory to spice up stories of global oil production, that’s for sure. This conspiracy comes via an undisclosed source of mine. We shall call him/her “PeakThroat”. Because that’s what Tom, I mean - him/her - suggested:

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I’ve really been slack at preparing for the oil-drought fuelled end-of-the-world. Work and all you know. But what with oil prices getting up over $60 a barrel, I figure its time to have another look around at what’s going down in the peak oil circles. (You know what… I’m upgrading my concern levels over peak oil. I’m making it a proper noun. Peak Oil. That’ll give it some authority for sure.)

One thing I noticed is that Peak Oil is getting heaps more air time (or pixel time, at least). When I’d consult my primary sources on Peak Oil in March, the articles where spaced out every 5 or six days. 20 hours ago… 5 days ago…. 2 weeks ago…. and so on. Nooow however, they are pouring in at a rate of more than one a day! Holy Moly!

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Well the end of the world as we kind of know it has drawn a few weeks closer and as promised in part one of this historic and important series on Keeping Entertained During the Immanent Apocalypse I did indeed watch The Wombles. I also purchased a solar panel, and planted some tomatoes. With these skills and products in hand I reckon I’ve lifted my ranking of “ability-to-survive-the-apocalypse-in-style” from 1,800,000th to about 1,250,000th. Not bad. I should be number 1 or 2 in 1.5 years, by my estimates.

Making good use of the things that we find.

First up. The Wombles. Although the guy at the counter thought I was making up the whole concept of rat-creatures that recycle, my local parasitic virus of a video store (blockbuster) did indeed have a copy of The Wombles - Orinoco Springs into Action.

For those who choose not to remember… “the wombles live in a burrow under Wimbledon Common and spend their days building all kinds of ingenious inventions with hilarious and unexpected results!” Maybe hyping it up just a tad, but a good watch none the less.

The first thing I was surprised to learn was that the theme song is “The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we” and not “The Wombles of Wimbledon, common are we”. I did some searching in to Wimbledon Common and it is true that they are not so common, and perhaps were killed off at some point since the making of this video in the seventies.

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Is “peak oil” for real? (warning, link not safe for design-conscious eyes) I don’t know, but I’ve been scouring for information about it for the last whatnot months. Mostly to avoid doing work, but also because I’ve noticed ‘lil signs and hints of it popping up more frequently lately.

Are the powers-that-be desensitising us in to the petroleumless reality of the not-to-distant future? Like they are doing with the aliens? Oops. Did I type that out loud? Anyway, here’s the latest I’ve seen in the medias about (peak) oil…

Gotta be worth a thought at least, with oil prices hitting record highs and blah blah blah…This one reckons “The oil cartel has set an unofficial target of 55 days of oil inventories in industrialised nations. Analysts estimate current stockpiles are around 52 days.” I think that means if they stopped producing oil right now, there would be 52 - 55 days of oil still stockpiled. Interesting hey. We’ll have to keep an eye on that one and see if it changes at all. Time to go to the library to look for historical data on this one.

Oil exploration aims to meet energy shortages - There are heaps of articles around like this at the moment. “Oil prices are so high, because demand is greater than supply”. And though I’m no economist, I’m pretty sure that thats supposed to be bad.

“Currently, the organisation is producing around 29.5 million barrels per day (bpd), which has ensured that demand is fully met, and global crude oil stocks continue to build,” Sheikh Ahmad said. But c’mon, thats Opec’s president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah. Seems like Opec might have vested interest. Oil prices did dip after he said it, so people smarter than me believe him I guess.

What’s happening to oil prices? - This article is beautiful. But boring. I’m sure it would alleviate all my concerns, but it’s just too long for this time of night. Though a highlighted bullet point does say “The tightness in supply position is expected to continue in 2005″ and isn’t appended with “, but don’t worry, it’ll be cool in 2006″

There is some big ol’ meeting coming up with the Opec bunch on the 16th. Hopefully I’ll be all studied up on oil by then. There’s just so much out there about it. Luckily I’ve watched this informative documentary from archive.org, and am well on my way.

Well, things look shaky for the happy continuation of modern society. Either global warming is going to get off it’s lazy bum, wipe out our food supply and leave us living on the juice of cockroaches (lucky I live in Sydney). Or global warming will be averted due to the fact we have run out of fuel to burn, in which case food transportation and production will be halted and leave us living on the juice of cockroaches.

Either case will have the same result of course - our shortage of fuel/food will be balanced by an over-abundance of commercial television’s delightful shock-reports that no family can afford to miss. I might try and tape as many of those as I can actually… If we can dig up a VCR they will be hilarious to watch in 40 years time.
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