THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

moneyistooshorttomention

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I'm in the reverse situation.

Buggalugs won't tolerate any other animals, be they dogs, cats or whatever.

She's had a set-to, with pretty much every other animal in the street.

:rotfl::rotfl:I've got a friend with a cat like that. Woe betide any other cat that comes anywhere near what she regards as her territory. They're all a good bit bigger than she is - but that doesn't stop her having a set-to with them if they stray into "her territory":rotfl::rotfl:.

I think they've seen the error of their ways by now and don't do so any more - thankfully for my friends finances (considering how often she had to take her cat off to the vet for the latest set of injuries).

[Deleted User]

Interesting little article on oil on the newsfeed today stating that shale oil and variants aren't enough to plug the gap when conventional oil supplies are failing and that 'finds' of new conventional oil are down by 50% over the last 4 years, this from Armaco (the Saudi Arabian Oil Co). I know the idea of an oil peak is to say the least controversial and seen by many as a 'non event' but ecologists have been saying for quite some time now that we're on the overhang of the cliff that humanity is driving hell for leather off the edge of and I wonder just a little if we might be reaching the beginnings of less available oil and all the products that come from it?

thriftwizard

I know the idea of an oil peak is to say the least controversial and seen by many as a 'non event'

...but isn't it rather interesting that Volvo are planning to switch to only producing hybrid & electric vehicles? An indication of which way they think the wind is blowing, not just a "consumer preference"?

jk0

Ah, frankly I don't think I'll be buying a Volvo then. I think the change is more to do with governments cracking down on fossil fuel cars.

I changed to a diesel car about ten years ago, as they were the cheapest to run. Touch wood, I have not had any accidents in it. I think part of that is due to it being so noisy, that people are more aware of it.

[Deleted User]

I think the idea of 'Peak Oil' has been ridiculed so much by governments and industry across the globe that people don't believe in it any longer in the same way that 'climate change' is not a real thing because even the American President doesn't believe in it and with all those scientific advisers to 'advise' him who would know better??? Steven Hawking for one saying humanity has 1 century in which to find a way to hop off this planet or it's curtains for all of us. I know whose measured opinion I would rather believe, I'd much rather NOT have to hear what he's saying but I'm not much good at singing La La La I'm not listening!!!

Been thinking, always bad I hear you say.....but what if it is true? what if the oil we've taken for granted for many years now, that feeds us, that allows us to travel, that makes our medicines, plastics, fertilizers, etc. was gradually less available and more expensive year on year, what alternatives are there and how could we future proof ourselves so we didn't feel the pinch as badly as others???

moneyistooshorttomention

If one assumes Stephen Hawking is correct (which he may or may not be....who knows...)

then how does he think we would differentiate anyway between those people who would only busily start polluting and over-populating any poor unfortunate planet that had us emigrating to it on the one hand v. those who would try and be responsible and take care of it and not make the same mistake twice on the other hand? Followed by only taking the latter category to New Home Planet..

GreyQueen

I think we've collectively been pumping more oil than replacement supplies have been discovered since about 1964, so Peak Oil is here and now. Whether billions of people are prepared to believe in it or not is irrelevent, you can't extract infinite resources from a finite planet.

But no one wants to be the party-pooper who stands up and says to the world; Y'know what, dudes? Industrial society as we know it is slip-sliding away. It can go faster or slower, depending on our actions, but it's going bye-bye.

I think Mr Hawking is barking up the wrong tree with this one. Humanity won't achieve escape velocity from Planet Earth. This little blue ball in infinate space is all we have and all we will ever have, and we need to get over ourselves and stop being such disrespectful house-guests.

[Deleted User]

I'd believe Steven Hawking over most people, he's got a brain like no other and a grasp of his science and most other peoples that is seen very rarely in humanity. I don't think I'd take the word of an unscientific layman who doesn't believe in climate change over someone as intelligent and forward thinking as Mr. Hawking. I also don't have a clue how humanity is actually going to be able to leave within a century and even less of a clue as to exactly where they'd go. I'm never going to be on the invitation list so to me it's a case of make the best of life you can while you're still alive and the future is for the younger folks to fathom.

I'm not sure anyone could sort the 'sheep from the goats' in humanity only that those who were chosen go would have to have much more to offer a newly formed society than riches or birth status. There are bad apples in every barrel and they'd have to be very sure of the stock they export and those who go along as shepherds.

GreyQueen

It takes an incredible amount of energy to lift anything into space, and the energy is going to be the problem, not the quality of the estimable Mr Hawking's intellect.

And there is the small matter of having anywhere else to go. But the highest of the elites will surely try it but they will probably die interesting deaths.

I'd imagine the future to have rather more in common with steam punk than with star trek.

[Deleted User]

Don't worry GQ there appears to be an awful lot of hot air on the thread at the moment perhaps as suggested we could collectively knit granny squares and make ourselves an interstellar hot air balloon to achieve lift off. One small point is that even those of us who were born in 1917 were taught how to be polite, even if we are anonymous!!!