Introduction
Every day throughout
the country newspapers report on what each of us sees wherever we look:
energy prices are rising. It does not take much research to find
countless stories of local pizza shops and restaurants anxious over the
effects of energy prices reflected in higher food prices, or people
watching with dread as their wallets shrink every time they fill up
their gas tanks. We are seeing, reading, and hearing clear indications
of cheap oil supplies becoming depleted. Fossil fuels are a finite
resource. That means that the supply of fossil fuels is nonrenewable,
and will diminish over time. This is the underlying principle behind
the Peak Oil theory. People are getting restless as
they watch ever-rising fuel costs on the one hand, and perceive
inaction on the part of government on the other hand. People want to
talk about what is going on, and where we are headed. Small groups of
the most concerned citizens are congregating in cafes, in schools, in
libraries, and on the web in cities around the country hoping to
connect with others like themselves who share their concern and want to
become engaged in the movement. This purpose of this
web page is to help concerned citizens learn how they can fit into
this ever-growing movement. In the following pages I will discuss how
citizens are becoming engaged in the Peak Oil movement, and to what
level we can each get involved. I will do this by describing the
conversations and discussions I had in a Peak Oil Meetup and in two
interviews in the Twin Cities. The Peak Oil Meetup and interviews will
help to illustrate what concerned citizens are doing in and around the
country. These examples illustrate the different levels of involvement each of us can choose to be a part of.
The beat of the empty oil drum is getting louder each day with a resonance that is becoming hard to ignore.
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Figure 1: Artist's portrayal of Peak Oil http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2005/08/15.html
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