Michael, you made Energy Bulletin - congratulations:

http://www.energybulletin.net/43115.html

Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of pretty good oil nears $120 - watch this space.

Thanks in part to the price of oil, the price of mechanically / chemically grown, processed and distributed food climbs ever higher. This magnifying effect is called "leverage" by the blue-eyed pundits on TV - those passive observers who would otherwise have nothing to contribute to society.

In the meantime, Wayne Swan comes out and says that the answer to the impending food crisis is to build more supermarkets. Is this a Cargo Cult or what?

It worries me that after so much hard work and passion, we may have only swapped one bunch of toolheads for another.......

The summit was a non-event, and it is naive to think that it could have been otherwise. Imagining that the summit might play a role in shaping the future is like thinking that the commemtators play a major role in the outcome of a game. In fact, they have a lessor role than the spectators.

What is needed to obviate the threat of peak oil is cheap and efficient energy storage. A major breakthrough may only be a matter of months away. If it happens it will be a landmark in human history, and remembered long after this flea circus is forgotten.

Fester, I don’t consider it naïve to have thought that the Summit could have been a very significant event. All that was necessary for it to be hugely significant was IMHO for the issues of peak oil, population stabilisation and genuine sustainability to be the most important things discussed…or even the only things.

That wasn’t too much to expect, given the awareness now present in the general community and government, as is evident by the number of articles and amount of discussion on OLO.

I rather think that to hold out any hope for a major breakthrough in energy supply that is at all comparable with oil and which has the potential to halt the impending huge economic and quality-of-life changes is naïve, especially while the business-as-usual paradigm remains entrenched.

The breakthrough that we desperately need is psychological. It is the realisation, from the top levels of government right through to the grass-roots community, that we really do need a paradigm shift away from the madness of continuous growth…and to put ourselves on the equivalent of a war footing in our efforts to address peak oil issues…or else we face the very real prospect of society breaking down.

Good article Michael. The public, prompted by the media fell for the fresh faced Mr Rudd who promised little and has delivered only "feelgood" statements. The man with "New Ideas" had to convene a summit including such noted "thinkers" as Kate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman and other media friendly visages to present some new ideas for him.

Oddly enough, one of the "Big Ideas", the bionic eye had already been invented!!

Rudd is all about appearances and has little or no substance.

Lets just pray he doesn't hold our fate in his hands one day. Maybe he already does.

Ludwig

I thought that the purpose of the summit was to find ideas to maintain continuous growth. The merit of continuous growth was never on the agenda, and why would it be? It isn't even a choice I can exercise at the ballot box.

I share your view that continuous growth is a flawed concept, but I do believe that technology has a lot to offer.

Yes, it seems that the purpose was indeed to maintain continuous growth and to uphold business as usual.

I reckon that it won’t be long – a couple of years – before the community comes to strongly condemn Rudd for that, rather than using the Summit as an attempt to initiate moves towards a steady state economy and population and a genuinely sustainable basis for our society.

Well, it is now patently clear that Rudd is completely hopeless when it comes to governance in relation to our really big and all-important issues.

The momentum will just have to build from the grass roots up.

In this regard, there is some optimism. There is clearly a lot of concern present in the general community, as is evident on OLO. Some local government authorities have in the past talked by the desire to cap their populations.

And now, the Mayor of the Sunshine Coast regional council, Bob Abbott, has announced a strong desire to cap population and keep economic growth down. He says that he is just reflecting the wishes of his constituency. He has the strong support of Ron Clark, Mayor of the Gold Coast.

Bob Abbott was well known as an advocate for a population cap when he was Mayor of Noosa shire. He won a hard-fought race for the mayoralty of the new super council, and no doubt won directly due to his stance on this issue.