The Chicago Tribune special report on peak oil

The Chicago Tribune special report on peak oil appeared as a pull-out supplement in today's paper. It's reportedly huge, with tons of graphics.

Peak oil is coming to a neighborhood near you sooner than you think.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-oil-about-story,0,2013022.htmlstory

Is the world running out of oil?

The prospect seems unthinkable--mostly because the consequences, if true, would be unimaginable. Permanent fuel shortages would tip the world into a generations-long economic depression. Millions would lose their jobs as industry implodes. Farm tractors would be idled for lack of fuel, triggering massive famines. Energy wars would flare. And car-less suburbanites would trudge to their nearest big-box stores--not to buy Chinese-made clothing transported cheaply across the globe, but to scavenge glass and copper wire from abandoned buildings.

"Is the world running out of oil?
"The prospect seems unthinkable--mostly because the consequences, if true, would be unimaginable."

What part of "finite resource" does this writer not understand? We WILL run out of oil eventually; that's a fact, not speculation.

Whether we run out soon is the only variable under debate. Blathering about "if true" just because the consquences may make us uncomfortable is like listening to the ravings of a lunatic.

Whenever I hear the statement ""Is the world running out of oil?" I know that the question is framed badly.. Yet, when peak arrives and oil production goes down significantly, the public can look back at and ask these pundit's why?? I thought you claimed we're not running out of oil.. The sheeple will be very confused then..

From Chapter 4:

According to Marathon refinery experts and Venezuelan energy analysts, Mapiricure was a minor source of Trager's fill-up. About 5 percent of his midgrade fuel originated in the oil and natural gas wells surrounding the tiny native community. And thanks to the grandiose populist agenda of President Hugo Chavez, the cabbie--and untold thousands of other U.S. oil consumers--was bankrolling an Indian renaissance.

The Kariñas of eastern Venezuela haven't always enjoyed oil wealth. That prize was a long time coming. Americans wildcatted the region's first wells 60 years ago, but in a familiar pattern of indigenous exploitation, few royalties ever trickled down. Today, under Chavez, they have good oil field jobs, freshly painted shacks, a new preschool, free medical care, subsidized food, and such diverse oil-funded ventures as a tribal chicken farm and a trucking cooperative. Many were buying their first cars. Indeed, the tribe of self-described Marxists appeared to have a weakness for old Yankee gas guzzlers like Ford LTDs and Gran Torinos.

Not that they were especially thankful, however, for the likes of Trager (a Chicago taxicab driver who ended up with some of their oil in his gas tank). "Our oil is being sold in Chicago?" said a crusty village elder, Ramon Barroso, clearly put off by the idea. "Too bad. Nobody here wants to feed the empire of that criminal George Bush."



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-oil-4-story,0,539323.htmlstory