Comments on: You and Yours get the End of the Age of Cheap Oil, Bigtime… http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/ An Evolving Exploration into the Head, Heart and Hands of Energy Descent Thu, 24 May 2012 06:51:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Lee http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57446 Lee Thu, 15 May 2008 16:42:33 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57446 <p>No matter what we say and however much headway we make in promoting Transition, the British government is not yet in a position to officially recognise the viability of this concept nor officially recognise "Peak Oil" as a problem. Imagine what that would do to all of the (extremely-rich, friends-of-the-government) people that are currently benefitting from the recent inflation... It would destroy the economy, if even only temporarily, but the damage would be done and we would be heading into recession quicker than we already are. The other day, Mervin King said that monetary policy should not interfere with the natural progession of fiscal trends, yet Gordon Brown has, albeit in code, come out today and said he will interfere to keep things as they are. We all know that for a variety of reasons, Peak Oil included, this cannot be so. Even more so given the recent natural disasters and the strain that will put on gobal food stocks. Sooner or later, this will come to the fore and it will be like a bomb going off in Fleet St and Wall St. At its current rate, the governement will be caught with its trousers round its ankles and we will all suffer.</p> No matter what we say and however much headway we make in promoting Transition, the British government is not yet in a position to officially recognise the viability of this concept nor officially recognise “Peak Oil” as a problem. Imagine what that would do to all of the (extremely-rich, friends-of-the-government) people that are currently benefitting from the recent inflation… It would destroy the economy, if even only temporarily, but the damage would be done and we would be heading into recession quicker than we already are. The other day, Mervin King said that monetary policy should not interfere with the natural progession of fiscal trends, yet Gordon Brown has, albeit in code, come out today and said he will interfere to keep things as they are.
We all know that for a variety of reasons, Peak Oil included, this cannot be so. Even more so given the recent natural disasters and the strain that will put on gobal food stocks.
Sooner or later, this will come to the fore and it will be like a bomb going off in Fleet St and Wall St.
At its current rate, the governement will be caught with its trousers round its ankles and we will all suffer.

]]> By: Francis Macnaughton http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57438 Francis Macnaughton Thu, 15 May 2008 11:19:17 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57438 <p>Relevant to this is the Today programme interview of Gordon brown this morning. I lost count of how many times he cited oil prices as a major reason for the economic difficulties the government is facing. What was particularly concerning was his suggestion that it will all come right when the price falls again... is the government in complete denial about Peak Oil or does it have fully prepared plans that are so secret they can't be revealed? I fear the former...!</p> Relevant to this is the Today programme interview of Gordon brown this morning. I lost count of how many times he cited oil prices as a major reason for the economic difficulties the government is facing. What was particularly concerning was his suggestion that it will all come right when the price falls again… is the government in complete denial about Peak Oil or does it have fully prepared plans that are so secret they can’t be revealed? I fear the former…!

]]> By: Tom A http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57425 Tom A Wed, 14 May 2008 21:21:11 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57425 <p>@Jason "I think everyone understands “food miles”" - don't be so sure! A survey in Ireland last November found that only 40% of people had even heard the term 'food miles' and only 30% were aware of the term 'carbon footprint'. see (http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2007/1102/1193444384323.html).</p> <p>Us eco-folks can live in a bit of a bubble and forget the gulf between us and the mainstream!</p> @Jason “I think everyone understands “food miles”” – don’t be so sure! A survey in Ireland last November found that only 40% of people had even heard the term ‘food miles’ and only 30% were aware of the term ‘carbon footprint’. see (http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2007/1102/1193444384323.html).

Us eco-folks can live in a bit of a bubble and forget the gulf between us and the mainstream!

]]> By: Jason Cole http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57424 Jason Cole Wed, 14 May 2008 20:50:38 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57424 <p>From listening to the programme, it seemed they didn't get the local-currency idea.</p> <p>Do you think it would be more helpful to describe it as a "co-operative to reinforce local community trading", thus minimising the transportation needed to get things done? I think everyone understands "food miles".</p> From listening to the programme, it seemed they didn’t get the local-currency idea.

Do you think it would be more helpful to describe it as a “co-operative to reinforce local community trading”, thus minimising the transportation needed to get things done? I think everyone understands “food miles”.

]]> By: Jason Cole http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57423 Jason Cole Wed, 14 May 2008 19:40:51 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57423 <p><i>One of the things we will need to master over the coming months is how to communicate the opportunities peak oil presents to people for whom the financial pressures are already very burdensome (such as those in rural areas who use home heating oil and need to drive a lot) in snappy and accessible ways.</i> Spot on. Are there any people already involved in Transition schemes who have such a background?</p> <p>Put another way, people tend to pay attention to their peers, so I'd suggest that suitable role models be found.</p> <p>Kind of reminds me of the TV programme "The Woman Who Stops Traffic" that was on a while back. In Boston she didn't make much headway until one of the prominent people from the estate participated and showed that "someone like us can do it and shows us it can be done so we can do it".</p> One of the things we will need to master over the coming months is how to communicate the opportunities peak oil presents to people for whom the financial pressures are already very burdensome (such as those in rural areas who use home heating oil and need to drive a lot) in snappy and accessible ways.
Spot on. Are there any people already involved in Transition schemes who have such a background?

Put another way, people tend to pay attention to their peers, so I’d suggest that suitable role models be found.

Kind of reminds me of the TV programme “The Woman Who Stops Traffic” that was on a while back. In Boston she didn’t make much headway until one of the prominent people from the estate participated and showed that “someone like us can do it and shows us it can be done so we can do it”.

]]> By: Jenks http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57415 Jenks Wed, 14 May 2008 11:27:00 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57415 <p>Financial (or fiscal) drift, is a favourite tool of the current Brown administration. It is the policy of letting an allowance, or a threshold stay stationary, (or at least delaying it's adjustment) thereby gaining extra tax revenue for HM Government.</p> <p>Example is the Stamp Duty threshold when buying houses. 15 years ago, only the most expensive houses would expect to pay it - and it wasn't much in real terms 1% of ~£150k would be a real extremen occurence. Nowadays (even with falling prices) almost every transaction will attract Stamp Duty and it will be more like 3% of ~£250k. See also car allowances (not moved since 2003) for using your own car for work purposes. And the best part, because it doesn't move, it doesn't attract headlines (stays under the radar), so we all just pay it...</p> Financial (or fiscal) drift, is a favourite tool of the current Brown administration. It is the policy of letting an allowance, or a threshold stay stationary, (or at least delaying it’s adjustment) thereby gaining extra tax revenue for HM Government.

Example is the Stamp Duty threshold when buying houses. 15 years ago, only the most expensive houses would expect to pay it – and it wasn’t much in real terms 1% of ~£150k would be a real extremen occurence.
Nowadays (even with falling prices) almost every transaction will attract Stamp Duty and it will be more like 3% of ~£250k.
See also car allowances (not moved since 2003) for using your own car for work purposes.
And the best part, because it doesn’t move, it doesn’t attract headlines (stays under the radar), so we all just pay it…

]]> By: RS http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57414 RS Wed, 14 May 2008 10:45:47 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57414 <p>"we could either choose to see this as a crisis or as an opportunity"</p> <p>One of my heroes is Jakob Bronowski and one comment inspires me time and time again, "If we ask an impertinent question, we are half way to a pertinent answer."</p> <p>That comment comes back to me more and more often as I get involved in TT stuff.</p> “we could either choose to see this as a crisis or as an opportunity”

One of my heroes is Jakob Bronowski and one comment inspires me time and time again, “If we ask an impertinent question, we are half way to a pertinent answer.”

That comment comes back to me more and more often as I get involved in TT stuff.

]]> By: Stephen Watson http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/comment-page-1/#comment-57413 Stephen Watson Wed, 14 May 2008 08:34:51 +0000 http://transitionculture.org/2008/05/14/you-and-yours-get-peak-oil-bigtime/#comment-57413 <p>I switched the Radio on yesterday in the middle of a conversation near the start of the program and couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. On R4? Excellent stuff, but hopefully they will devote a longer programme to it.</p> <p>And Financial Drift - what was that?</p> I switched the Radio on yesterday in the middle of a conversation near the start of the program and couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. On R4? Excellent stuff, but hopefully they will devote a longer programme to it.

And Financial Drift – what was that?

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