So what will you do if the oil runs out?

[bulldogeagle]

We need to be passing on traditional skills and this has to start from a young age

this would be ideal given the youth unemployment rates but, i feel its too late for the younger generation, things have gone too far for the" i want it-and i want it now" generation, they want the money but they dont want to get their hands dirty, thats why there are so many "media studies" type courses, but no one wants to be a brickie, or a plumber or a plasterer.

[clearthedecks]

You're not wrong about Nuclear power Tommy - but in a world of diminishing resources the only sustainable systems will be those that are pre oil. The future lies in the past and returning to an agrarian life.Thats not a romantic notion - but an acknowledgement that if you plan for the worst, its where you end up. I have no doubt that 'modern alternatives' will be around, maybe for a life time - but will eventually fail when you dont need them to. It bothers me too that we can store and prep but then what? do we assume that things return to some 'normality'? will that be likely? If you think not, then you have to assume that you will need to feed yourself - and now you're back into the past. Its not a matter of having land now though - more a matter of surviving long enough to be able to adopt it and knowing that you will need to apply yourself to it.

[tommylongstocking]

in a world of diminishing resources the only sustainable systems will be those that are pre oil. The future lies in the past and returning to an agrarian life.

Saloth Sar (1925-1998) held a similar opinion.

Tommy

[diamond lil]

I agree to a point. We would need to go back to tried and tested older ways to keep things going and food coming in. But there would have to be some experimentation on new ways at the same time. I'm sure that would happen anyway cos human beings are a nosy pushy species.

[nickdutch]

There are too many people in the world for us to return 100% to an old time. We need to keep everyone alive. That means using GM as well as Organics as well as Mechanized farming methods.

Either that or very rapidly depopulate the planet, something that none on this form can have any say or power over anyway.

In my case I am doing stuff that can be regarded as being partially a return to an older time (canning, hunting) to make living easier.
But everyone can't do it.

[bulldogeagle]

There are too many people in the world for us to return 100% to an old time. We need to keep everyone alive. .

there are already too many people on this planet and we dont have the land (even with GM) to feed everyone.

[hobo]

Tommy,

....or powerdown/energy descent.

[TeeDee]

in a world of diminishing resources the only sustainable systems will be those that are pre oil. The future lies in the past and returning to an agrarian life.

Saloth Sar (1925-1998) held a similar opinion.

Tommy

[tommylongstocking]

There are too many people in the world for us to return 100% to an old time. We need to keep everyone alive. .

there are already too many people on this planet and we dont have the land (even with GM) to feed everyone.

Hi Bulldog eagle and NickDutch,

I do not agree with your statements.

There are 15 million square kilometres of viable agricultural land on plant earth. Assuming a daily calorific requirement for good health of 2400 calories per person and taking the actual world agricultural produce over the 12 months Sep. 10 to Aug. 11 (Everything from Corn to cows) we can calculate the average calorific product per square kilometre. Dividing one number into the other would suggest that we can support 23 billion people on earth at current agricultural production levels.

There are local factors that would reduce this figure in real terms (for example, Rhodesia, Sorry Zimbabwe, could feed the entire African continent with ease (and historically almost did) but some local recent political difficulties reduced output by 75%).

The figures above do not take into account any food resource available from the seas and oceans so this would defray the prior negatives somewhat.

Tommy

[Carrot Cruncher]

in a world of diminishing resources the only sustainable systems will be those that are pre oil. The future lies in the past and returning to an agrarian life.

Saloth Sar (1925-1998) held a similar opinion.

Tommy

Bet I wasn't the only one who had to google that name