Ibon wrote:Pops wrote:dohboi wrote:Pops, your last point reminds me of a sociological study of two adjacent neighborhoods in Chicago. During the deadly heatwave of '95, one neighborhood suffered very many deaths, the other, hardly any at all. After ruling out a number of other possible factors, the sociologist concluded that the difference was community cohesion.
Very good.
Showing another downside to the rise of sensationalist clickbait media, let alone the silos of the net.
Yep, this is why I laugh every time I read on this site the predictions from the clueless that Central and South America will suffer devastating consequences of peak oil and climate change while the USA will remain resilient.
Ibon, all I ever claimed was that Peak Oil will effectively end mechanized agriculture in the Third World. When gasoline is $10/g there won't be much being grown there with tractors or transported with trucks or by rail. However, even when it's $25/g the USA will still be eating, that is my estimate of fuel pricing when food takes 50% of the average American's income.
Food production in the USA is almost exclusively by large corporations. They will adapt to elevated fuel pricing by raising food prices. I simply do not think there is that much resilience in the Third World.
Take your luxury eco-resort, for example. Try to imagine no internet, when your knowledge is reduced to whatever you have in hardcopy, and you cannot buy sugar, salt, or grains at the store, and there is no gasoline or diesel at any price. Nor will there be propane, kerosene, or Coleman fuel.
Do you have hardcopies? An Encyclopedia Brittanica would be a good thing to have. You have a plan for sweeteners, salt, and other spices? An herb garden already exists? What will you be doing for income with no tourists?
How long before the hordes of people from the lowlands burn their way to your door with slash&burn, animal-powered agriculture?
I am not claiming that all food disappears, only that which is grown and transported using petroleum fuels. Then realize that the population which must live without cheap food is 10X or more as large as it was a century ago. Think about this from the perspective of a slum dweller on the outskirts of a large South or Central American city, not that of a wealthy land owner perched in the remote volcanic highlands.