"I cannot escape the conclusion that things remain hopelessly off track ... The very thing being sought, more economic growth (and exponential
growth, at that), is exactly the root of the problem. I suppose I would
take a similarly dim view of an alcoholic trying to drink their way
back to health as I do the increasingly interventionist central bank and
associated political policies the world over ... The price of energy is not really the most pressing that we need to keep
track of. Instead, what we care about is the net, or surplus, energy
that is returned from our energy exploration and production efforts for
society to do with as it wishes ... New petroleum finds being deeper, tighter, smaller, and generally more
difficult to get to and extract, thereby offering lower net energy
returns than in the past ... Where the prior 150 years were defined by ever-increasing amounts of
both gross and net energy, a remarkable experience unlikely to ever
again be replicated, the next 150 will be defined by its exact opposite ... I think we're in a bad spot. I mean the globe here, but the
developed economies in particular. I am losing hope that we will
navigate towards anything other than a hard landing at some point
because even with copious amounts of data accumulating suggesting that
the old ways are not working, I cannot detect even the slightest hint of
original thinking or new thoughts coming out of the marbled halls of
power. Business-as-usual and more-of-the-same seem to be the only operative ideas right now. But what is a bit startling to me is the number of individuals that have
not yet caught onto the idea that things have permanently and
irrevocably changed."
Ein Artikel von Dr. Chris Martenson über irreführendes Streben nach erneutem Wirtschaftswachstum, Energy Return on Energy Invested, künftige Trends im postfossilen Zeitalter und die allgemeine, kognitive Dissonanz in Bezug auf die Folgen des Peak Oils. Erschienen auf Peak Prosperity (22. Oktober 2012).
