Hasbeen,

Too many cars - there are better ways to conserve fuel while transporting people. (no, I don't own a car)

It's nice that you care about the Great Barrier Reef and I also hope it is never drilled. However, if you've taken the trouble to check out my links to tar sands mining in Alberta, you'll realise what man is capable of, even in a country like Canada. This dirty, resource- intensive industry has left a toxic and apocalyptic landscape...very scary stuff.

peak oil is not about running out of oil

it is about the point where declines in production from the old fields cannot be offset by new discoveries

on an inflation adjusted basis oil has only twice been over $80; in the 1860's at the start of the oil age and the late 1970's during the Iranian revolution

i hope we keep on finding oil but the trends don't look good

Jim Rodger's advice to invest "things that are essential for human survival" is becoming increasingly prescient

*However, if you've taken the trouble to check out my links to tar sands mining in Alberta, you'll realise what man is capable of, even in a country like Canada. This dirty, resource- intensive industry has left a toxic and apocalyptic landscape...very scary stuff.*

What suprises me Poirot, is that you are surprised. We know from
many examples, for instance Easter Island, that man will chop down
the very last tree and even turn to canibalism, if it means
survival and the ultimate crunch comes. Laws of the jungle will
prevail!

I have long ago stopped worrying about the things that I cannot
change.

Yabby - just caught the Easter Island thing.. just a point on that.. you're quoting Diamond's theories on Easter Island. Subsequent archeological work has knocked those theories over.
Terry L. Hunt, a professor of archaeology at the University of Hawaii, has conducted several digs on the island. He says archaeological evidence clearly points to that the main cause of the demise of the island’s tree cover as rats, introduced by the islanders, eating the seeds of the palm trees before they could germinate. Further, at least a part of the island still had trees by the time of first European contact. (American Scientist, October 2006.)
He and others have concluded that the Easter Island collapse was due to Western contact, specifically disease and slave raids.

excellent, sensible article.

maybe those calling you crazy are oz tea party pre-cursors.

article in weekend australian about chinese elites said they are all getting their kids houses in the LA or Vancouver, and that they are fully aware that every new car on Chinese roads increases their dependency on imported oil. that complemented another article online about the coming clash between the US and China over oil, in about 6-8 years, just as Jen ny says.

Can I remind people that Jenny Goldie has been talking about population issues for so many years I forget how long, and that only now has it become pc to raise this issue. Jenny, you are still ahead of the pack.

Unquestionably, Rapa Nui has been devoid of large trees for quite some time. Pollen analysis has shown that palm trees once existed on the island and made up part of its flora. Despite this general agreement, research into both the causes and timing of deforestation remains contentious. Nunn (1999) has pointed out that there are numerous methodological problems involved in any attempt to reconstruct prehistoric human impact on the environment. Above all, natural events frequently generate changes that are sometimes similar if not identical to those produced by human impact. Numerous researchers (Finney, 1994; Hunter Anderson, 1998; Nunn, 1999; 2003; Orliac and Orliac, 1998) suggest that the climatic downturn caused by the Little Ice Age may have exacerbated the problem of resource stress and could have contributed to the disappearance of the palm tree from Easter Island. There is little agreement on when exactly the island's palms became extinct.

*Terry L. Hunt, a professor of archaeology at the University of Hawaii, has conducted several digs on the island. He says archaeological evidence clearly points to that the main cause of the demise of the island’s tree cover as rats,*

Diamond also theorizes about this.
Not long after 1400 the palm finally became extinct, not only as a result of being chopped down but also because the now ubiquitous rats prevented its regeneration: of the dozens of preserved palm nuts discovered in caves on Easter, all had been chewed by rats and could no longer germinate." (Diamond, 1995).