[Tikib]

This is a very strange end to the world. Most people don't even know about it.

Also thanks for this forum without this I would have nowhere to discuss my thoughts.

[dolanbaker]

You need to keep in mind that we are at the peak of "everything" right now and that it took about three centuries to reach it, a bit like a roller-coaster.

We're about to start going over the top, but it is important to remember that for most countries (like the UK) that this downward process will take a very long time, slow enough for society to adapt.

Eventually, we'll reach a point where adapting will be impossible then TSHTF that point is many years into the future.
Some countries will experience that much sooner though because of their current financial situation, Greece could be in serious trouble later this year.

As Pstarr says, most people simply don't see the signs.

[KaiserJeep]

We started the widespread burning of coal around 3000-2000 BC, it has not yet peaked. We started the widespread burning of petroleum in ancient Baghdad in oil lamps, and they paved the streets with tar. Oil may have peaked somewhere around 2005-2008 depending upon your exact definition of "petroleum".

The point being, we are not running out of fossil fuels overnight. I personally think that things are going to get slowly worse and worse - and everything needed to live slowly more expensive, for as long as another century, and possibly two centuries.

Meanwhile, the current state of the world, now or in the recent past, is both the best things have ever been throughout History, and the best they will ever be. You are here now, during the peak quality of life for humankind, and you are complaining.

GET A LIFE.

[Sixstrings]

Also thanks for this forum without this I would have nowhere to discuss my thoughts.

You're welcome. If anyone bothers you, let me know and I'll yell at them. With 6 page rants.

[Sixstrings]

Eventually, we'll reach a point where adapting will be impossible then TSHTF that point is many years into the future.
Some countries will experience that much sooner though because of their current financial situation, Greece could be in serious trouble later this year.

You know, I've wondered before, what is "TSHTF?"

Is it living like Cubans do? Well, they don't have much down there, but they're actually kind of happy and live longer.

I guess "peak everything" means I can't afford to eat out all the time, like I used to. So, I do some things I never used to do in years past. Like cooking up dry beans in a crockpot.

I've gotten into black eyed peas. And I threw in garlic pepper because I didn't have anything else on hand. And holy cow that came out good. Maybe it's just my taste buds or something, but something about that, the garlic and black eyed peas compliment and it's quite excellent.

So there ya go, that would never have happened if I could afford to just eat out all the time, as I used to. Adversity needn't be bad per se, it's how you look at it. And the funny thing is that very wealthy people who have it all aren't happy either. Everyone's frickin' miserable, enough is never enough, everyone has problems and if they don't have any then they invent them.

[SeaGypsy]

This guy is a sympathy sponge. Two threads about his mental health in as many days.

[Tikib]

I am not looking for sympathy I just wanted to share my thoughts. Many of you have been here so I didn't think you would be so hostile. Like I said let's move on.

[Sixstrings]

Many of you have been here so I didn't think you would be so hostile. Like I said let's move on.

It's not hostility, it's like tough love.

The regular posters have been at this a long time, so it's not like it was back in '08 or earlier, and there was more alarmism back then and "depression" about it. Everyone has long since accepted it.

So now new people will join the forum and maybe they will be in that early stage of "depression" and alarmism about climate change / overpopulation / the economy / peak oil.

It's okay if you're not *seriously* depressed, and you're just doing a figure of speech, but if you are clinically depressed then you need to start talking to someone local like a therapist or pastor or get into some kind of group. If it's clinical depression / stuck in a life rut then really you need a therapist.

The issue here is you are saying things like "there is no future" and you are saying "I am depressed."

This forum isn't a cult and nobody wants to encourage anyone going overboard, that's all. It's *very sad* that all the species are going extinct, yes, but if one were to be clinically depressed about it and is laying around in the throes of depression over it for weeks -- then that is a mental health problem, even though the species are really going extinct, it's still delusion to latch onto some big issue to the point where immediate survival is not being looked after.

[dolanbaker]

Eventually, we'll reach a point where adapting will be impossible then TSHTF that point is many years into the future.
Some countries will experience that much sooner though because of their current financial situation, Greece could be in serious trouble later this year.

You know, I've wondered before, what is "TSHTF?".

Put simply, it's the moment in time when a large number of people are forced out of their "comfort zone" and have to face up to the harsh reality that they are going to have to modify their lifestyles to function with fewer resources. As the past few months have shown, it will be an economic decline, rather than real resource shortages* that will hurt.

AS KJ stated earlier, a century or so before things get really bad, I'm being optimistic as there are many places around the planet where that timeframe may be much shorter.

*famines & drought are environmental issues as opposed to fossil fuel extraction.

[BobInget]

2011/2012/2013/2014 marked end of world for millions of Sudanese, Nigerians,
Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Pakistanis, NATO and US fighting forces, all dead or suffering life altering wounds.

Certainly, "out of their comfort zone".

[Strummer]

2011/2012/2013/2014 marked end of world for millions of Sudanese, Nigerians,
Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Pakistanis, NATO and US fighting forces, all dead or suffering life altering wounds.

Certainly, "out of their comfort zone".

Personally, living in Central Europe, what convinced me that things are going south pretty fast was Ukraine. I still can't believe how a nearby european (albeit poor) country collapsed so fast into what's basically a oligarch/warlord-ruled non-state. It's absolutely frightening to see this and also to see the frantic western propaganda trying to shift the blame from the real reasons (economic bakruptcy due to dependence on energy imports combined with a large population and the absence of any viable exports) away to made-up bullshit reasons like a "russian invasion".

[KaiserJeep]

2011/2012/2013/2014 marked end of world for millions of Sudanese, Nigerians,
Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Pakistanis, NATO and US fighting forces, all dead or suffering life altering wounds.

Certainly, "out of their comfort zone".

A medieval religion that is getting more and more out of control and brutal every day killed most of the above folks.

I wonder what "The real god" thinks about all those killings in "his" name. He's probably a bit to busy to interfere, busy making Galaxies at the far end of the Universe !!!

Happy new year all.

Gas

I do believe that GASMON has unexpectedly solved the "origin of the universe" question. The "far end of the Universe" is God's anus, and the Galaxies are the gas he is releasing.

It is always helpful to understand one's true significance in the Big Picture.

At least we now understand what that "Big Bang" was.

To those of you out of your comfort zone, I have been on vacation since early December, and work this morning is a rude shock. I am not dealing with it very well.

[Revi]

[Revi]

Above is Gail Tverberg's graph. Notice the collapse starts in 2015 or 2016, and the decline is steep. Remember that most people get killed on the way down the mountain, and look at where we are going! It's going to be a wild ride!

[Sixstrings]

You can think wrong like ennui2, desperately searching for complex economic analysis to distract from simple ecological truths. Or Kaiserjeep ("we are not running out of fossil fuels overnight") who hopes and prays for another 100 years for space technology to work its wonder.

Or be like the persistent players here at peak oil (six, dolan, me) who understand this is the best of time before the worst. The final incline before the peak and decline.

It's nice to be claimed Pstarr, but in fairness I think you're putting words in my mouth there. I don't disagree with you, OR Kaiserjeep or Mos (ennui?).

And what the heck IS the "worst of times" and "the sh*t hits the fan."

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when YOU lose your job. So for Tiki right now, it's already SHTF and "the worst." For you, it may be ten years from now and a layoff (I hope not). For someone else, it could be 20 years from now and a multiple sclerosis diagnoses, and inflation is at 20% and it's already hard to afford food, etc. For yet another person, like a Russian or Venezuelen, then that TSHTF scenario is right now, with inflation at 20% and bad stuff coming.

It's all relative, and at the end of the day at least we all have toilet access whereas half a billion Indians do not. We hope there's time left to build space colonies, maybe Indians just hope there's enough time to build everyone a toilet.

I think I agree with the overall trend, I lean to the doomers, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see the space colonies too.

EDIT: Now to do my devil's advocate. I know I just said it's all relative and at least we have toilets etc., but to be honest I'll just go ahead and say that yeah my own financial situation is not what it used to be years ago.

The economy really is a lot worse, objectively. A lot jobs are still paying right now what they paid 20+ years ago, and prices have doubled and more in that meantime. So all that has an effect, my area used to be a destination spot and now it's filled with poor people. I really do get panhandled half the time, in public. That didn't happen back in like '04, and in the 90s. We didn't have all these street people back then, either.

Now if I moved to say, certain parts of Virginia and someone wanted to hire me for something at a hundred grand a year then voila doom is over and life is great. It's all relative, in the aggregate though and by the numbers we are a far far poorer nation since the 70s and 80s and early 90s. The numbers show a massive wealth transfer, from the lower 99% to the top 1%.

So yeah, it does suck. My life is different now. Sh*t costs three times what it did "in the old days" but I don't have three times the money, it sucks.

I can't believe how much movies cost, these days.

And something like goofy golfing. I took a date on that, that cost like $40!!!! Just for goofy golf!

Thank God for Dollar Tree, at least I can get all my toiletries and laundry detergent and toothpaste and cleaning stuff and hardware crap and a lot of random things all for a dollar. Then you turn around to go see a move and they want twenty bucks.