Peak Oil: Devil's Tear

Human population suddenly spiked six-fold duringabout five million people at a high standard of
the first half of the oil age (1859 to 1970), theliving. Solar energy can sustain only a fraction of
result of rapid expansion of industry, transport,the world's current population. As Earth's human
trade, agriculture and financial capital. For nearlypopulation is culled down to more sustainable
forty years hence the industrialized world haslevels, a hybrid of various alternative energy
been riding the crest of a monstrous energysources, in addition to available supplies of fossil
wave powered by fossil fuels all of which shouldfuels will likely be used.
finally peak before 2010 and begin a steadyThis peak of global oil production is the primary
permanent decline. Human population will declinefactor behind the 'resource wars' masquerading as
parallel to how oil production depletes down itsthe war on terrorism. In Machiavellian terms, the
own bell-shaped curve. Peak oil is not about whenUS does not need Iraqi oil; access to oil is
the oil will be gone, but rather when demandspecifically not what the invasion was about, but
begins to outstrip supply and production. The keymore importantly as a military geo-strategic
issue here is that oil simply cannot be extracted,solution to control the supply of oil over other
transported and refined fast enough to meetcompeting nations such as China and India. And
rising fuel demands. The rate of this consumptionfor that objective, the cost is not to high. As the
is in fact about to increase dramatically since bothworld's usable oil supplies 'run out' or get
China and India, representing about one-third ofturned-off and the world food supply begins to
the world's population, are rapidly industrializing.shrink, billions of people will die from famine,
Our oil based industrialized economy has finallyexposure, and civil unrest. A code of silence in
reached it's limit to sustain a human population inaccordance to the 'rules of war' ensures privilege
excess of 6.5 billion. Overpopulation has beenand exclusion, with population reduction maintained
disastrous for the planet, and still greateras a generational (long term) unspoken objective.
populations will pollute and consume even more,The only reason why the US and Britain would pull
ruining the environment and creating orout is if it became apparent that they would not
intensifying a variety of problems. It is unlikelyhave access to the Iraqi oil, or if it would cost
that the developed world will choose to end itsmore energy to continue the war (and
current use levels of fossil energy consumption,occupation) than was obtained from oil. If this
or the third world which is responsible for a greatwere the case then the U.S. and Britain would
deal of this population growth, it's suicidalpromptly leave. Realistically, the only way that
consumption of the landscape.that would happen is if the Iraqi oil fields became
The Earth and its ecosystems are in seriousunusable, for example by nuclear attack and
trouble. Industrial civilization, population pressure,contamination. The United States has been aware
and an economics of short-term gains have had aof peak oil for quite a long time, with peak oil now
devastating effect on the planet, leading to theupon us. U.S. military deployments have been
overall reduction in biodiversity. Ecosystem,engineered with one specific goal: to control the
species, population and genetic diversity are all onlast remaining oil reserves on the planet. To
decline. Biodiversity is in decline at all levels andparaphrase the famous line that Jack Nicholson's
geographical scales. Industrial civilization has led tocharacter, a colonel of the U.S. Marine's, spoke in
this current period we're in which has witnessedthe movie A Few Good Men: "You want answers...
for itself the greatest rate of extinction since theyou can't handle the truth..."
dinosaurs went extinct some 65 million years ago.The chief driver of today's higher oil price is China,
Between 3,000 to 30,000 species are nowwhich is now the world's second largest oil
becoming extinct each year; these incredible ratesimporter after the US and whose demand is
of extinction are 1000 to 10,000 times thegrowing exponentially. Supply cannot keep up with
expected norm found in nature. All five of Earth'sthis new level of demand, it is clear that there is
known major extinctions in Earth's long past werelimited scope to increase supply. Oil is transforming
caused by either comets, volcanic activity, orworld politics, Iran can afford to challenge the
natural climate change, this coming 'sixth'West and continue to aspire to become a nuclear
extinction event will be the first caused not bypower because it has the firm support of China
natural physical events but as a result of biotic--secured by oil. China right now feels acutely
factors caused by humans.vulnerable over oil, because it has only limited
With respect to the state of the planet afterstrategic oil reserves of its own and Iran is vital
global industrialization (the industrial age) is over,to China's strategic interests.
that depends essentially on when the collapse ofIn November 2004, Iran gave China the rights to
the industrial world occurs. If the collapse happensexploit the giant Yadavaren field. Importantly,
soon and catastrophically, the Earth will be able toChina plans to bring this oil into China, not across
retain a high degree of biological diversity forthe Indian ocean and through the Malacca Straits
millions of years to come. If it happens late orbut by pipeline across central Asia, free from
gradually, the biological diversity of the planet willsurveillance of the US fleet. China's attitude to Iran
be critically degraded. The likelihood of mankind'sis clear with its refusal to; it has condemn Sudan
long-tem survival decreases with each passingover continued mass killings in Darfur, after Sudan
year of the industrial age (because the ecologicallyallowed it to build a 500 mile pipeline to the coast.
diverse biosphere which supports higher life formsIran's President Mahomoud Ahmadinejad can
is being destroyed at such a rapid rate). Peak oil istherefore be assured that China will veto any
the underlying condition forcing change. That is toattempt to win UN approval for military
say, we have reached the point where our annualintervention in Iran.
consumption of oil is considerably greater than ourWe may have already witnessed mass genocide
annual ability to develop new sources. No matterand warfare unfolding in connection with oil related
what anyone does, our oil-based global economyconflicts from: Chechnya to Nigeria, Argentina to
cannot continue for much longer in its currentthe Sudan, and most formidably in the Middle East
form --at current population levels. Incidentally,all concern or are related to oil fields. To
greenhouse gasses which are currently aroundinhabitants of Western countries whose industries
380 ppm., and rising about 2 ppm. per year shoulddirectly benefited from the seemingly unlimited
not reach severely dangerous levels for at leastflow of cheap oil, oil is referred to as "black gold".
another generation or two.But for many others, particularly the inhabitants
For the last three hundred years, the key toof poor oil-producing countries, oil is referred to as
prosperity has been the replacement of humanthe "devil's tears".
skill with mechanical energy --steam for sails, fossilSince the US is the world's sole remaining super
fuels for coal. Most of the human race is totallypower, it is in a position to keep much of the
reliant on oil, almost everything we do requires itworld's oil production to itself for a while. As
in some form from transportation to plastics,President Bush once declared, "The US lifestyle is
from food and water production tonot negotiable!". As global production falls, there
pharmaceuticals, from manufacturing to electricity,are basically two approaches to securing sufficient
from sewage management to defense, and ofoil: one is to expropriate the production amounts
course as a consequence of this reliance when oilthat are previously being used by other nations,
prices rise the stock markets become uncertainand the other is to reduce consumption. It is very
and under extreme circumstances liable to crash.difficult to decrease per-capita consumption, so
So when oil becomes too expensive we can lookabout the only way to decrease consumption is
forward to economic collapse, war, starvation,by decreasing the population. Decreasing the
disease and a rapid descent down the populationpopulation of other countries will have little or no
bell-curve to perhaps less than half of Earth'seffect on the US demand for consumption of oil
current human population.--the only way to decrease US consumption is to
Alternatives to oil are presumed to be somehowforcibly reduce the U.S. population through war.
independent from oil, while in reality, theseSince nuclear bombs exploded on Hiroshima and
alternatives are derived in some way from oil. ItNagasaki in 1945, the possibility of an atomic
takes massive amounts of oil and other scarceArmageddon has made the use of such WMDs
resources to locate and mine the raw materialsunconscionable. Recently however the word
(silver, copper, platinum, uranium, etc.) necessary'nuclear' has been resurfacing back into the
to build solar panels, wind turbines, and nuclearvocabulary of American policy with the
power plants. It takes more oil to construct thesedevelopment of 'limited nuclear weapons'. Small or
alternatives and even more oil to distribute them,limited nuclear weapons are used in the battlefield
maintain them, and then to adapt them to aagainst armored tanks, or to penetrate deeply
particular infrastructure.fortified enemy bunkers. A low yield nuclear
At the current level of global production, otherweapon is typically one with a force less than 5
fossil energy sources like coal, cannot effectivelykilotons, or 5,000 tones of TNT. The bomb
replace oil. Natural gas extraction will peak a fewdropped on Hiroshima by comparison was
years after oil, while extraction rates for coal willapproximately 15 kilotons. A one-kiloton nuclear
peak in decades. What's more the productionweapon detonated 20 to 50 feet underground
processes to convert coal into a substitute for oilwould dig a crater the size of 'ground zero' in New
would use more energy than they produce, and inYork city, ejecting one million cubic feet of
fact function as net energy losers. The same canradioactive debris.
be said of nuclear power (apart from radiationThe end of cheap and plentiful energy will cause
and storage dangers) produces the very samethe world economy to decline, competition for
net energy loss problem. Solar energy (excludingremaining energy resources will grow, prices will
electromagnetic energy from the vacuum) as wellrise, countries will undergo acute economic and
as all other available energy sources combinedpolitical changes, and the global human carrying
cannot produce the necessary volume of energycapacity will steadily plunge. The nation-state is
derived currently from oil.becoming a devolved entity. The current
With respect to ethanol, far more energy istransnational global economy will disappear due to
expended in planting, fertilizing, growing, harvestingprohibitive energy costs needed to transport hard
and processing than its end product renders. Nogoods and services globally. Human civilization will
other energy source can fly planes or drivelikely be survived by globally distributed 'Regional
heavy trucks and machinery like oil. Further, mostHubs'; each 'Hub' comprised of up to millions of
of the world's fertilizer is now made from naturalpeople all digitally linked as a Network --in mutable,
gas (which is subject to the same Peak curve asfluid and non-territorial fashion.
oil). While most of the world's pesticides are madeAccording to Alexander Kiy, author of fiction
from oil. As fuel prices double and triple in thenovel: Fear Kindness Love / Earth Ascending
coming years after the peak, the fields of2012, humans are really Interdimensional light
agriculture, food distribution, and transport willbeings with an eternal life and galactic
certainly be heavily impactedor shut-down.consciousness. This crisis of fear we are in does
Consider that there are 10 calories ofnot have to be one of energy or economy, but
hydrocarbon energy in every calorie of foodof soulful release. Fear Kindness Love / Earth
consumed on the planet. When the oil and naturalAscending 2012 is available in print and download
gas are taken away, food as will disappear.through "Lulu ( the world's fastest growing
World wide solar energy can support at most 500provider of print-on-demand books.
million people at a very low standard of living, or