A Drop of Rain

Some of these FAQs are about the web site, others about common misunderstands, fantasies, and faith based belief systems that make simple logical conclusions almost impossible for some people to get their minds around.

• Q: Why was my comment deleted/not approved?

  A: Probably because it met one or more of the following criteria:

  • Blindly repeats half digested corporate media gibberish as fact
  • Pointless comment, of no value, adds nothing to the page’s information
  • Repeats industry sponsored spin, misinformation, propaganda, as if it were ‘critical’ or ‘original’ thinking.
  • Ignores current best scientific understanding of a question in favor of tooth fairy scenarios, or falls for the illusional doubt created by above industry sponsored ‘research’
  • Seems to rely on a faith that Jesus or someone will come down and either a: save us all, or b: cast the sinners into damnation then save the chosen few.

  Remember, this web site is designed to provide information of some value, not to repeat absurd, scientifically unsupported beliefs usually originating in industry ‘research and spread by denialists, who uncritically accept this nonsense. It costs money to host this site, the site is not going to be used to promote corporate spin, sorry. If you want to start your own site and post your comments there, feel free to do so.

• Q: Can you give a very brief explanation of the basic concept of peak oil?

  A: Yes. It’s very simple. Forget all the complicated analysis of oil field flow rates and depletion, and just visualize this:

  • cavemen find out that wood burns, learn to roast meat and keep warm
  • cavemen learn how to burn coal, and use that instead
  • cavemen learn how to burn oil and natural gas and use that too
  • high tech cavemen learn how to make uranium react and make heat, and use that too
  • as the cavemen burn more and more of this stuff, it begins to get harder to find, harder to extract, harder to process, because, being cavemen, we used the best stuff first
  • having used about half of what’s possible to find, we haven’t been able to replace with new stuff what we are using every day, as of about 25 years ago now. So we’re using up what we already found.

  That’s about all you need to understand. We have found and burned things that exist, in our environment. These things are finite. Finite means that there is no magic fairy that replaces what we have used. There’s nothing at all hard to understand. All solutions that envision technology somehow replacing all this burning are essentially dreams with no material foundations, although some methods, like wind and solar thermal power, will help replace a small fraction of what we currently consume by burning things.

  Read more on peak commodity questions.