I had my weekly lunch with my 96-year-old grandfather today. He is about the only face-to-face person I can speak with on a regular basis about peak oil who understands it the way we peakniks do. While we were ranting to each other today about the woes of the world, he brought up a somewhat rhetorical question that he doesn't really trust the oil czars and wondered if they wouldn't deliberately try to create an atmosphere where there aren't enough refineries in order to drive up the oil prices and, in turn, make more money. I thought it was a good question and I told him it was a very likely possibility. I answered him, however, and told him the point is moot. My argument, and probably many other peakniks' as well, is the fact that fossil fuels are finite, and the world is relying on a resource that won't always be around for future generations, especially at the rate we are consuming it. This is the crux of a peaknik's argument.
My grandpa is wise enough to know this but I had to redirect his thoughts to the underlying dilemma. It is annoying me that those who may understand oil depletion on the surface but don't absorb the depth of the problem (not meaning my grandpa, by any means) will be led astray by variables like politics and those who are out for financial gain.
As devout peakniks, we must vigilantly reemphasize the underlying dilemma about fossil fuel depletion in the face of all of these variables. People will continue to get lost in them thanks to the media. During the 70s oil crisis, the underlying dilemma was lost in political revelations. We must help keep the course straight this time as if our life depends on it. It will be our job in the near future, I'm afraid.
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