Corporate Media Dips a Toe into Peak Oil: Addendum

"The U.S. media, in general, wants to avoid discussing why many scientists believe that global oil production will probably peak in the near future, if it hasn’t already. They prefer happy talk of oil sands, coal-to-oil and cellulosic ethanol developments even if those developments have little probability of replacing declining conventional oil production. In the end, the talk may soothe the minds of the motoring public, but it won’t change the probability of peak oil."

This quote is lifted from an article by Roger Blanchard in the Energy Bulletin in response to a Peak Oil article carried in the New York Times, March 5, 2007. Also, considerable Peak Oil coverage in the English language mainstream media, though not in the NAmerican mainstream media, has been offered by The Independent. See here, here and here.

So, yes, there has been some Peak Oil coverage in the print media (ergo, not mass media, as that is the domain of the tube), but falls far short of what Peak Oilers would consider a reasonable educational initiative. And most certainly, the words "Peak Oil" have not been uttered by any sitting government in the Western world. The political concerns should be self-evident. If the message is not massaged and managed "correctly" then a mass hysteria, stock piling, and run on banks is quite possible.

So to refrain the post of January 11th, it is left to the Obama administration to drop this bomb shell into the public's lap. The motive for doing so and the manner in which the message will be managed remain to be seen. One thing is certain, Western governments can not sit on the Peak Oil lid for much longer.

When the cat is finally let out of the bag will said governments be able to stroke a purring, household pet, or will they have on their hands feral consequences for which there are no known, easy and ready "strokes" because the condition is wild, wild, wild?