Many people hear the phrase "peak oil" and don't understand what it really means, or the major impact it could have on modern society. Peak Oil is NOT about running out of oil - there is enough oil in the ground to last us another forty years. What it IS about is running out of CHEAP oil, thus making it more and more expensive to support our increasingly technological lifestyle. The lower oil reserves drop, the more expensive it is too pump them to the surface - and since many countries use salt water to 'float' the oil up, there is increased refining and filtering needed to produce "usable" oil.

So how real is this danger? Should we be concerned about Peak Oil?

Life after the oil crash - One of the 'grandaddy sites' of peak oil. A great place to really explore the potential worst-case scenario impact of Hubbert's peak.

Is it possible? Can you run a gasoline powered car without gasoline? Find out how you can never pay for gasoline again... Click now to learn more about the secret big oil companies don't want you to know!

What is Hubbert's Peak? This wikipedia article gives a more technical, in depth explanation.

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Hubbert peak theory Totally Explained - check it out!

It’s important first to realize just how petrol-dependent our society is. Let’s tak a basic example – your last trip to the supermarket. First of all, you hope in your car (which, of course, is powered by gasoline). You arrive at the store and decide that, although it’s January, you could really go for some tomatoes.

The availability of out-of-season produce is completely dependent on oil. First, the produce needs to be shipped up from warmer climates. As oil prices rise, that fuel becomes more expensive – thus forcing distributors to raise the price of your tomato. And is it wrapped in plastic, on a styrafoam tray? Both are made from petroleum by-products.

But it gets more complicated! Did you know that the very fertilizers we use to increase crop yield are petroleum based? Yup, so as oil prices rise, guess what – so do fertilizer prices. Farmers can’t afford to buy as much, so the crop yield goes down, causing more scarcity and further raising prices.

Discouraged, you go out to start your car, but after a weird clunking noise, it dies. Turns out that to increase their profit margins, your local gas station was “amending” their gasoline, and you got a bad batch. Now your car won’t run, and the repairs won’t be cheap.

So you say, hey, I can’t afford to buy tomatos… I’ll just get something in season and cook it at home. Maybe I’ll go with canned veggies and make soup! You head back – but wait, check out your natural gas bill that just came. Not only is your heating bill up (and you’ve already lowered your thermostat settings) but your natural gas stove just got a bit more expensive to use.

Since your car’s on the fritz, you decide to carpool to work – but you just got a call from your boss. Turns out that with so many people feeling the pinch, your company didn’t make it’s sales quota and they have to cut back – meaning that you’ve been “temporarily laid off”. Well, guess you didn’t need to carpool, after all. Lucky folks might be able to telecommute, but of course electricity isn’t getting any cheaper, and all that computer equipment you set up in the basement is running up your bill.

Rising unemployment… rising inflation… encounters with scarcity…

Worst case scenario? Maybe so.. and maybe not. Does it remind you of anything? It should, because we’ve been here before. The united States passed it’s Domestic Oil Peak in the seventies, and this situation was exactly what we lived through. Many of us who were alive at the time remember the gas lines, the scrimping our parents did to pay the bills, the backyard gardens to help get enough vegetables at a reasonable price, and the massive layoffs. What helped us last time was our nation's entry into oil importing – getting our supplies supplemented by Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other countries. But now, we’re approaching the global oil peak as these nations face dwindling reserves – and last time I checked, the moon didn’t have any oil. Our generation will have to deal with this growing crisis by conservation and the creation of alternative energy sources. This is all we have left.

Is it the end of the world as we know it? Well, the key phrase there is “as we know it”. My belief is that we’re not going to see massive die-offs, famine or rioting. However things will change, as they always do. We will have to all get used to a narrower selection at the grocery stores in the next few years. Bicycles may make a comeback for short distance commutes (hey, it’s healthier anyway!) and we are all going to start being more aware of how much oil and petroleum byproducts we use – simply because it’s going to cost us. And we may finally start to see recycling as cost effective – sure, when oil was cheap it didn’t make any sense, but with plastic costs rising recycling may actually become economically viable.

Just so you know, I did NOT write the above movie (I wish!) but it is freely available on YouTube. The director made this freely available via YouTube or you can support him and buy it The End Of Suburbia on DVD at Amazon or through his website, www.endofsuburbia.com

The sequel, Escape from Suburbia, is coming soon and promises to be just as informative (and unsettling) as the original. You can view the website here, and if you're concerned that we're not taking the issue of peak oil seriously enough, make a donation to help them finish this documentary. I've placed the iffical YouTube trailer for this upcoming release below.