Now you go careful there Richard: Watch out for that hoary old matador’s favourite known as Y2K!

Taz,

Obviously you have not read any of Heinberg's books. He is probably the world's best commicator on peak oil. Read the books, read the reports - the numbers speak for themselves and cannot be ignored!! As the leading exporter of coal the idea that world coal reserves may be more limited than previously believed has enormous economic and security implications for Australia. Someone should ask the PM whether he has seen the recent reports on coal.

michael_in_adelaide writes:

"Someone should ask the PM whether he has seen the recent reports on coal."

Ok I asked him. He said he's well aware of the recent reports. PS he wants you to stop ringing the lodge.

The "New College of California"....please disregard everything in this article.

In a magazine put out by the House of Reps entitled "About the House" (Sept 2006) there is an article entitled 'In the Wake of the Boom'. The opening paragraph begins 'The giant mine we call Australia has never experienced anything like the mass of minerals that was dug up and exported last year. The amounts are staggering and make you wonder if anything will be left in the ground for future generations.' The article goes on to express concern by 80% of manufacturers stating they are concerned about where they will be in three years time, a reference to the fact that supplies will be on the way to being exhausted by then. Does the government know? Obviously. Does it care? Not a lot. You see, as long as those who can buy the government's approval for this plunder, smaller community approval is neither here nor there. But is any of this money being spent on developing alternative resources, such as solar, wind, wave power etc? No. So what will happen in five years, when the author cites two reputable studies that show the end result? The future is bleak, as once this boom is over, the manufacturing industries will also start eroding. Where will we be? I can't even imagine. And yet we accept government policies without question.

How anyone could mistake this kind of crap "Scarenario" from the Eurospivs as credible science beggars belief. But lets just take them on their word, shall we?. Don't worry about global carbon emissions targets because they are all about to drop, big time. The price of energy will go up and all those supposedly unviable nuclear power plants will be delivering the cheapest electricity of all. And the only people who will manage to get by with a scrap of dignity will be the residents of country towns who only spend 5 minutes getting to and from work. They will still do so, by bicycle.

I can live with that. The major cities have created the problem, it is only the revenge of the gods that they suffer the consequences.

Laugh if off if you wish alzo but, rather than trying to discredit the source, look at the data instead. Why not download the two coal reports from the links in the article and read them for yourself. They were not produced by the New College of California. Mockery is simply the most common method of denial and is a very poor tactic for facing the future.