[PVsoul]

HI all, just making my introduction to this community, I'm very new to this site and the PO issue which seems to snowball into a lot of other issues is freak'n me out a little......well actually a lot!! Besides feeling like I've been fooled to taking the wrong path in life; bought a 600k fixer in suburbia because it's only going to appreciate, work in cubicleland 30 miles away and probably couldn't catch a fish if my life depended on it, I'm pretty certain I'm surrounded by a couple other million people who are in the same boat. In my eyes WTSHTF it's going to get very ugly!

I guess my first question is how do you approach the PO subject with family and friends without coming across as a Doomer!? although that is what I fear is the most realistic scenario....especially in So Cal (family) and the Bay Area where I live. Any and all advice and helpful info. would be greatly appreciated.

[ubercynicmeister]

Hi PVsoul...welcome to Peak Oil Awareness! Fasten your seltbelt and remove all loose itmes & stiore them away safely.

Place tables in the upright position.

HI all, just making my introduction to this community, I'm very new to this site and the PO issue which seems to snowball into a lot of other issues is freak'n me out a little......well actually a lot!! Besides feeling like I've been fooled to taking the wrong path in life; bought a 600k fixer in suburbia because it's only going to appreciate, work in cubicleland 30 miles away and probably couldn't catch a fish if my life depended on it, I'm pretty certain I'm surrounded by a couple other million people who are in the same boat. In my eyes WTSHTF it's going to get very ugly!

It's very ugly right now, but thatnks to the Miracle Of Consumerism, people have been tricked into not noticing it.

I guess my first question is how do you approach the PO subject with family and friends without coming across as a Doomer!? although that is what I fear is the most realistic scenario....especially in So Cal (family) and the Bay Area where I live. Any and all advice and helpful info. would be greatly appreciated.

Ok....well, now that the welcome is over (and I seem to be the first respondant....(next posting...)

[nero]

I would suggest when you discuss it with them to respect their disbelief about the doomer scenario. There are alot of people who have looked deeply into the issue and don't see a Mad Max like world in the future. I would predict that your own view will swing back and forth as you grow accustomed to the idea that it COULD all go belly up.

Since we don't know what the future has in store for us perhaps you should just stress the "Be Prepared" motto of the boy scouts. Get out of debt, accumulate a reserve of liquid assets upon which you could live for a year if you lost your job, Upgrade your earthquake-ice storm-hurricane kit to last you a week or two...

[PeakOiler]

Moderators: This topic seems to come up so often that there should be a sticky for it, imo.

My advice is to go slow with the message of PO. Give only facts, not subjective opinions. The Peak Oil phenomenon is a learning process, and an overload of info can make one seem like a doomer in any conversations on the subject. No one knows exactly how things are going to turn out.

[pigleg]

Its a bit difficult for several reasons. Really it comes down to predicting the future, and some people just simply won't draw the same dire conclusion given the same evidence.

One interesting thread here noted that most of us are INTJ or INTP Myers-briggs types. I don't put tremendous stock in those evaluations, but it does seem to say that it takes a certain type of person to make the connection. And I don't mean that in an eliteist way at all.

Still I think the community here would say its your duty to spread the word, but its hard not to end up preaching. Best would be to let other people discover it themselves, though I'm not sure how to do this - you could buy one of the peakoil books and leave it laying around the house.

If you come on too strong, you'll find people confiding in return that they sometimes speak to their long dead aunt or were abducted by aliens last year.

[Cobra_Strike]

It definately is a mind f*ck when to tell your friends and family. The most common reaction seems to be that youare crazy, after the facts have been reveiled many will choose to look away. I have decided if people are not willing to listen then the world is better off without them any way.

[Nano]

Family and friends will agree or disagree with you. Either option will not improve your life.

If they finally agree then they will lose confidence and joy at what happens in their society, knowing that it will all come crumbling down painfully and slowly, if not suddenly and brutally. They'll experience the anxiety and frustration you experience, and probably more so since they probably won't have a natural inclination to figure it all out, leaving them wavering in uncertainty for the next decade.

If they finally don't agree they'll think you've become a miser and a bore. They'll think you just aren't man enough to take life's curve balls as they come. They'll try to find more laid-back company.

Take your pick!

Personally I'd recommend you explain PO only once, then start to practice thrift and caution in your finances and hope they catch on in time. It's been a year since I 'came out of the closet' regarding peak oil and the whole thing became more trouble than it's worth. Keep it to yourself mostly and try to keep a smile on your face is what I'd recommend.

Oh, and don't spend too much time on this site, such time is better spent working to pay off debt, increase your education and/or improving your career.

Good luck!

[MattSavinar]

If they finally don't agree they'll think you've become a miser and a bore. They'll think you just aren't man enough to take life's curve balls as they come.

Losing a job in an otherwise strong economy is a "curveball." This is more like a Roger Clemen's fastball at the head or a bad-hop ground ball in the nuts with no cup.

Clemens, by the way, will even throw at his son's head!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2346877

Best,

Matt

[aldente]

It definitely is a mind f*ck when to tell your friends and family. The most common reaction seems to be that youare crazy, after the facts have been reveiled many will choose to look away. I have decided if people are not willing to listen then the world is better off without them any way.

Once you reach the point where you stop communicating the underlaying message of PO you deserve a medal that states: LESSON LEARNED

I never communicate this knowledge, only schoolgirls that can't keep their trap shut go out and try to make the world a better place by telling their mama that papa screwed around.

[Doly]

I never communicate this knowledge, only schoolgirls that can't keep their trap shut go out and try to make the world a better place by telling their mama that papa screwed around.

This is not about making the world a better place, but about coping with reality. If mama knows that papa screws around, maybe she can make some intelligent decisions.

You prefer that people around you live in la la land, that's your problem, and you will have to live with the consequences.

[aldente]

If mama knows that papa screws around, maybe she can make some intelligent decisions.

No, she will bite papas head off...therefore it might be clever to keep the trap shut, since nobody got hurt in the first place (except 1. there is an unexpected pregnancy or 2. STD's)

In regards to your second comment there lifting people out of a certain dream stage: Money is the actual lock and I bet you that both of us deal with it by default in the one or other way. It directs, controls, steers and maneuvers, plus it has evaporative capacities (at least that's my experience, as soon as it enters my bank account it starts to evaporate).

Those who control money control the world, at least the current stage of what we define it to be.

Steven Covey speaks in his 7 habits series about two circles: An outer, larger one and a smaller within. The inner circle is what you can influence, the larger circle are circumstances that cannot be influenced by an individual (PO falls in that category for example). If you struggle to keep your personal boat afloat and someone tells you about the implications of PO in the near future, you might not see any benefit in adding that knowledge to the already struggeling boat and denial is a normal reaction. I don't blame anyone who has no interest in dealing with PO.