Nightshade

In the not to distant future the oil tap may either run dry
or get shut off in some fashion. Either way there is NO
fuel to buy and it's so bad that vehicle fuel tanks are
getting siphon dry by theives.

Were talking down & dirty no fuel "you walk or else" life.

What would/could you do to get by??

(I post this because I'm tired of all the whining about
"not being able to" when "all would have to" when there's
no fuel except for the military & gov't officials)

kc9eog

It would be easy to live in that world, until I lost my job and the grocery store closed. But I would be able to get around easy enough. Until my bicycle broke down and I couldn't get spare parts...

gosmsgo

ARe you trying to say that we should not use oil so a fat lady who is 100 pounds overweight cannot haul her one fat kid in a 2,000 pound vehicle when we could save it for farming or manufacturing!!!!

How crazy. What is that fat lady supposed to do??? EXERCISE!?!?!?!?! Hey, do you know how hard it is to be a big fat ass!!??!!??

It aint easy ok....and her kid is big boned and besides you should except them both for being fat.

slowjoe66

I often wonder about those scenarios. I remember working in a gas station in the late 70's as my first job trying to save enough money to buy my first car. There was gas rationing. You could only get gas on even/odd days based on a certain number in you license plate. It was funny. People would sit in long lines-10-30 cars until the pumps opened for a specified amount of time (until the gas ran out). What people would do is they would top off their tanks, even if they had a mostly full tank if it was their day, making the lines even longer. Everybody had this sort of a "I've gotta get mine" attitude.

I drive a garbage truck for a living. I could certainly see the governments saying that all doctors, hospital employees, fire, police, garbage trucks, government and utility vehicles etc. would get the gas they needed for "public safety". Where would that leave the fat lady and her "big boned" kid? OUT of luck.

Platy

It's extreme to assume no motor fuel available at any cost. Extreme but not unprecedented, with a parallel situation being maybe the collapse of the old Soviet Union.

I doubt most people would have jobs to go to. We'd have to get to know our local families and neighbors a lot better. We'd barter the accumulated stuff that's saved in our garages and mini storage warehouses and probably be eating cans of food that have been sitting in our pantries for years. People with bike trailers, push carts and pedicabs would find a lot of opportunity to put them to work.

mwrobe1

Yeah, I think I'd manage, being able to get to work, go to stores and buy stuff and bring it home.

I commute by bike often enough and have adequate gear to be able to cope with something like that.

As another poster stated, I'd make a second job out of hauling stuff for others via bike trailer.

The problem I would have is, um, being dependent on semi-trucks, that use petrol products, that haul said stuff to those stores...like food, and other grocery items. Depending on what season the said "outage" would occur...that might become uncomfortable...not being able to have some lead time to produce a home garden/stock up on certain things etc.

I'd think that a steady increase in gasoline prices, and the associated steady increase in inflation would be the prelude to such a severe reduction in gasoline availability. A nuke or two going off in a Middle Eastern oilfield or some other natural phenomenon effecting oil producing countries would be the only exception.

mwrobe1

But then again...its yet another good reason to get a job in healthcare.

halfro

This Mad Max scenario will not happen for a lot time. Nobody has any idea when the oil will dry up, including me. I do not own a car and don't plan on buying one anytime soon. I think if the oil dried up I'd have no problem with it, but when it does dry up, it will effect everybody. It'll be chaos. Our country, if nothing is done, will go back 200 years.
It will be an interesting time. Scary, but interesting...

Roody

As oil becomes scarcer and more expensive, alternatives will be developed. The transition vehicles will be hybrids, biofuels and plug-ins.

The real interesting question is, will we be stupid enough to fry the planet before the oil runs out?

iain.dalton

I don't think the oil will "dry up" in at least the next century or two, but it will become more resource-intensive to obtain, driving the price up exponentially (or is it logarithmically?). People say they're car-free, so they wouldn't worry, but we all depend on oil. Farm equipment runs on gas, as well as almost every industry that produces materials necessary to survival. Sure, there are the occasional "self-sufficient" homes (like the Bush ranch), but how many people have the money to invest in one of those?

P.S.: Mormons keep a one-year food and water supply in case a situation like this ever happens. I think it's a good idea, but I can't even invest in that with my finances.

maddyfish

Not just Mormons, and not just food, and water.

Weapons/ammo/reloading equipment, hard currency-silver, medicine, medical equipment, spare bikes and parts, spare shelter, and much more.

Oil, economic collapse, China, Islamic terrorism, exotic disease, and more. Lots to prepare for.

East Hill

^^^
I can tell you that in my line of work, I have not seen so much bulk silver (read, silver coins not being collected for numismatic value, but simply as a hard currency) being moved around the country since around twenty years ago...

East Hill

spinninwheels

As scary as this statements sounds, there is a lot of truth in it. Presently our food supply is so closely tied to fossil fuels, it's not even funny. And I don't just mean the transportation of it. Presently it takes around 35 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef, and about 65 calories to produce 1 calorie of pork. But that is a whole other topic.

Accountability and environmental responsibility seem to elude big corporations, and I don't mean just big oil. It's a real shame that there isn't a bigger push towards more environmentally friendly energy, as well as more incentive put specifically into that area of R&D.

I agree that a car is a tool, as well as the internal combustion engine (I.C.E.), but sometimes tools become outdated, and possible cast aside. Unless of course some aspect of there design is improved to make them desirable or effecient once again.

A perfect example is the flat blade or the Phillips screwdriver. Useful yes, but far from the best design. In the automotive field, it eventually evovled into the Torq. I'm not suggesting the Torq is the pinnacle, but it is much more effecient than its predecessors.

Now I'm not saying the car has outlived it's usefullness, but the I.C.E. is getting very close. The thermal effeciency is still well below 50%. Is that acceptable considering we are within, arguably 10-20 years (either side) of peal oil? And the demand has never been stronger. I think its design could well exceed its present performance, but design improvments has been thwarted over the decades.

It's time we to start changing our habits and paradigms with respect to anything connected to fossil fuels, not because we have to (yet), but because it is the most practical and responsible thing to do. Staying on board to milk it for all it's worth, till every last cent is made, is reprehensible.

Newspaperguy

Changes usually come in a little more gradually. We didn't see everybody in unison trade in the horse and buggies for cars. We didn't see an instant conversion from oil lamps to electric lights. And we won't see an instant end to oil use either. Wells will not all run dry at once and the tap will not be shut off in an instant either.

It's much more likely to happen over a span of years with oil prices rising dramatically, followed by supply shortages where the local gas pumps will run dry from time to time.

The point where fuel is simply no longer available is still ahead of us. And it will come in with a lot of warning. Unfortunately, not everyone will choose to listen to the warnings.

kemmer

If it were to happen overnight you probably wouldn't have a job to go to or a school to drop the kids off at anyway. The question isn't how will you get around, but what will you eat/drink, how will you heat your house and how will you keep your family safe. It's safe to say we'd all be pretty screwed for quite some time.

East Hill

In other words, we will return to being 'pioneers'. You won't need to worry about having a job--your job will be surviving. Men and women will get out and plow fields with horses, mules, oxen. We will grow our own produce. We'll use horses for transportation, or walk. Meat will return to being a once a week special treat, and will probably consist of an old hen too old to lay eggs, or a surplus cockerel or old rooster. We'll get sick more often, and die from common diseases because we won't have access to health care. Polluted water will make us sick, and we'll die from it too. The mortality rate will shoot up again for women of childbearing age. We'll use wood or coal to heat out homes, unless nuclear energy becomes acceptable. Electricity will be generated by nuclear energy, or windmills, or water energy (dams, waves). We'll return to shipping goods by ships with sails, and we'll have to get used to the fact that what we desire is not necessarily what we need in order to live.

So, how would we get by? Well, conserving what resources we have--I don't mean in the 'grand' sense, just personally. Do I really need that new bike with carbon fibre? No...I can make do with the 35 year old steel bike. Yes, I could use new tyres, or tubes, but I could fashion wooden 'tyres' too. Or, stuff the tyre full of leaves or material. It wouldn't be fun cycling, but it would get me there. We wouldn't necessarily be out of rubber, mind you--that's a plant derived article. There are a number of plants which produce naturally occuring rubber, a number of which can be grown in temperate climes. And various oils can still be extracted from plants and animals.

East Hill

lyeinyoureye

It's sizzling already, so naw, I don't think so. Not that we're gonna wipe ourselves out, yet. Just that we're going to make stuff really difficult for ourselves in the next couple centuries.

Dahon.Steve

If the majority of Americans cannot use the motorcar due to oil shortages, I don't believe we will go back 200 years at all. If you go the library, life was not horrible 100 years ago and we were in the middle of the industrial revolution. I didn't see any human suffering or people crying for motorized vehicles. My town wasn't a transit hub either and there were no cries for additional trolleys.

I wish I'd been an adult in 1907. Being carfree 100 years ago would have been a dream.

bmike

i'd argue that we wouldn't be returning...

East Hill

Figuratively speaking, that is .

It would not be a case of 'going where no man (or woman) has gone before', although I've personally never had to plow a field with anything other than the handtiller, so it would definitely be a new experience for me.

And I gotta tell ya, I don't think I'd be all that excited about it .

East Hill

maddyfish

good, makes mine worth more in case TSHTF.

East Hill

Yes, there are a lot of people ensuring that they are prepared...

East Hill

energyandair

Not sure when it will happen but when the fuel runs out so does asphault and making concrete takes a lot of energy so roads are likely to deteriorate a lot.

I see a lot of skinny bike trails and suspended bikes with wide tires to handle worse surfaces.

We will probably also see the rebirth of corner stores, local shopping centers you can walk or ride to, and possibly large stores located at transport hubs.

David

JeffS

In such a scenario, my personal transportation would be the least of my worries.

My current job, loosely tied to the housing industry, would be be at risk. My wife's business, reliant on people's discretionary spending would be in jeopardy, and the job availability for either of us would be questionable.

Whether we had anywhere to go would be a bigger issue than how we got there.

jondoh

It is sometimes said that the truth is somewhere in the middle. It seems to me that almost everyone expects a sudden disappearance of oil. We’re not going to see a sudden and complete disappearance. It will become scarce – and not 30 years from now. I’m thinking in the next few years. It’s already begun to happen. Gas prices are rising in a time when they usually go down. There’s already talk of shortages of heating oil. It will be interesting to see if we see prolong, widespread outages of gasoline supplies next summer. It wasn’t very widely publicized but there were gasoline shortages just this past summer. They didn’t last long and it happened only in a few towns. What should be bothersome is the fact that shortages occurred for no apparent good reason (except supplies had run out). Opec was not boycotting the US. I know these are not exactly peaceful times but when was the last time things were “peaceful”? It’s happening slowly. Almost imperceptibly. We are getting squeezed to death. The credit crisis is just a sign of this. If you believe that we’re past peak oil, and I do, you know things are not going to get better before they get worse. The best thing you can do for yourself right now is consider sustainability. Got a house you can barely afford? Maybe it’s time to sell and downsize. Live in the Xburbs? Time to consider a place closer to the city (or a sustainable living arrangement). Maybe move close to a train station or closer to work. Got two cars? Maybe you really don’t need two. Call it car free or car light or whatever you want. Time to think about actually doing it rather than consider what to call it.