On the 19^th May I posted an article about 2008 being the tipping point for Peak Oil. The year the media would wake up to what was happening. Within 4 days I saw the following front page of the Independent dated 23^rd May – “Running on Empty” it says as the screaming headline. Now the Independent is no Supermarket Tabloid but even this was an eye-opener. Unfortunately the fuel-gauge read near empty which is not quite true of reality. The gauge may be half full but the accelerator is pressed hard to floor and the speedo, revs and engine temperature gauge have all maxed out suggesting that we are bound for a screaming halt at some point as the system fails. Indeed it will. We will consume the other half of the oil in only 25 years at the current rate. Even then it won’t quite run out. It use will taper off as the price goes up and up and up.

Subsequent newspaper headlines from the Independent kept up the pressure as day after day it lead with Peak Oil stories. Now – we have to make a differentiation between The Independent and the OTHER newspapers. The OTHER’s also lead with news about Oil. However, as is typical of the tabloids they ignored the real story. They preferred to discuss only the price of forecourt petrol and blamed greedy Oil Companies and Government Taxation. They started up campaigns to reduce the Tax. Such measures are as predictable a knee-jerk reaction as they will be completely ineffectual. It is re-arranging the deck chairs of the Titanic as the ship goes down. It is a distraction and does nothing. We prefer to blame somebody else as to simply accept the obvious – that Oil is finite – means we can only blame our own consumption. Newspapers hate to tell their reader’s that THEY are to blame. No. There is always somebody else to blame. Governments. Foreigners. Corporations. Terrorists. Whatever.

A week later on the 30^th May an E:Mail popped into my Inbox from a work colleague that was campaigning for day when nobody would buy petrol. The idea was that if everyone boycotted the big Oil Companies for a day then they would be brought to their knees and reduce their prices. Or apply pressure on the Government to reduce Tax. I was astonished. It was obviously a form of chain-letter and that on its own would be enough to earn my irritation. However, the fact that it was sent by a well meaning and intelligent lady from a Financial Accounting background told me a lot about the state of public awareness. The E:Mail clearly stated that the Price of Petrol should be dictated not by the Suppliers of Oil (ie, Corporations) but by the buyers of Oil (ie, you and me). This is as if the price of a finite substance with infinite demand has its price set by consumers! Sadly it was my duty to reflect back to the sender of the E:Mail (and all those who she sent it to) that the Price of Oil is set by supply and demand. Mother Nature sets the supply limit and us people who demand it have to lump the outcome. I added an Oil Depletion versus Oil Discovery graph for them too.

As expected this sparked a brief but lively debate in the office. Thankfully, being a smart bunch it was a reasonably intelligent conversation. A colleague lamented that his Volkswagen Diesel can’t burn bio diesel whilst another was happy that he had converted to LPG many years previously. We talked about expanding oil exploration in the North Sea but we all new it wouldn’t make any difference. The BC News web site was frank about that. These good people are awake to the alternatives to oil if not completely awake, yet, to the mind-numbing reality of Oil’s demise. It is progress of a kind.