A few years ago, I read an article on Salon.com about a phenomenon called "Peak Oil". Basically, it followed a group of activists who believed that oil production in the world had already or would soon reach its peak and that the declining supply of oil would soon provoke energy wars that would plunge the world into a chaos of sorts. Not a pretty picture, right? However the things they were predicting in the article seemed outlandish and unlikely, and after a day or two of worrying and obsessing over the possibility of an oil-less world, I put it out of my mind.

Recently, as oil prices spiked higher than most had ever dreamed, I remembered the article. I went back and read it again and saw that a lot of the predictions the peak oil "conspiracists" had made were coming eerily true. Supply was down, demand was up. These people were learning how to plant gardens, how to farm the land, how to defend themselves, and making every preparation for a world without oil. They were preparing for Peak Oil.

So who are these believers in Peak Oil? Nutjobs with tinfoil hats? Or smart, prescient observers of the world who we will all rely on in the near future. For me, the jury is still out. My very rational family tells me not to worry about the end of oil. After all, there's supposedly oil in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico and years and years of oil shale deposits in the US alone.

But Peak Oil theorists seem to believe that all these potential sources of oil will only be sufficient to extend the world's oil use by a few years at best. They believe that oil is on the decline, no matter what, and that we're just not advanced enough in our technology of alternate energy sources yet to replace it.

Oil isn't just a liquid that we use to fuel up our gas tanks. Oil is, surprisingly, involved in almost all of the food production in the world. Pesticides, fertilizers, food storage, tractors and trailers used in farming are all made using oil. Plastics are made with oil.

One blog predicts that we are only 9 meals away from world chaos. That is, if trucks stop delivering our food to supermarkets, and there is no food left, we have 9 meals until people starting looting and inciting in violent activities to get their food.

So should we freak out? I've considered this question a lot lately. I'm not positive that Peak Oil is all its cracked up to be. Unfortunately for me, however, I'm a worrier. The type of worrier that stays up at night imagining how things will be when Peak Oil hits. I hope that these people preparing for the end of oil are just tinfoil hat crazies, but I also, grudgingly, can't stop wondering whether or not maybe they're right.

So there's no harm in preparing a little bit. Recently I ordered the SAS Survival Handbook. It teaches you how to light fires, hunt, which plants are edible and which aren't, etc. etc. I also ordered an emergency food kit with water and energy bars packed with calories. If I had the money, I would order a bunch of solar powered generators, etc., as well.

I live in the city, so I can't really learn how to garden, but if I had a backyard, I definitely would be out there digging in the dirt. We've come a long way in technology in the past hundred years, but as a result, we've lost some of the essential knowledge of life, like how to grow our own food, and how to provide for ourselves.

If I lived in the suburbs, I think I would also buy probably ten or so of those huge Poland Spring water jugs and put them in my cellar. I would also buy (again, if I had the funds, which clearly I don't) a years worth of food reserves.

So don't bug out just yet. But be aware. There's a lot of reading and preparation you can do in case these crazy theories are real. If Peak Oil never comes, you'll have gotten a great education in alternative energy, gardening, and other topics.