Peak Oil is here, at least according to Princeton professor Kenneth Deffeyes. While that is arguable, what is not is that Peak Oil is now a fully mainstream concept. Over the past year, mainstream media has made a full about-turn on the issue. This turnaround has been driven largely by events:
In that period, we’ve seen $70 a barrel; oil companies acknowledging the problem, and even using it in commercials as greenwashing; China attempting to purchase an US energy company; right wing attack dogs (Swift Boaters) writing a book denouncing the whole idea as being fundamentally unscientific (!); House hearings led by a Republican (Roscoe Bartlett) about the issue; Bush commissioning a study from the National Petroleum Council on whether the problem is real; Prince Charles attending a round table discussion on peak oil; the current Dow CEO warning that America’s worst energy crisis is imminent; former CIA director Schlesinger warning that action is needed now; oil shocks averted by a large release of reserves post Katrina; and so forth.
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