Mainstream Media Wearing Oil Blinders
This MSNBC article only gets it partially right.
Yes, Americans are clearly not ready to reduce their use of petroleum. Nor will they feel compelled to do so before an actual shortage or severe crisis hits them and wakes them up. You can raise the price, but we found that $3 gas does not really reduce demand. Only shortage will provide the impetus for Americans to consider lifestyle change.
The article misses the point when it states
The problem is not that the world will soon run out of oil. Yes, consumption is rising - but more oil will be found ... the oil shale in Colorado amounts to another 1 trillion barrels (of oil).
That implies we can continue to run our lives in the future the way we're running them in 2006. That is a very dangerous message to send to readers. In fact, oil shale and oil sands and other alternative (read: much more expensive) sources of crude oil will never be produced at the same flow rate that traditional oil is produced. The world is consuming 85 million barrels per day. That figure is growing (remember China?). As traditional oil depletes ... alternative oil will not be able to replace so many millions of barrels per day.
Sure, oil is not running out. However, cheap and easy-to-extract oil that flows right out of a tap is definitely running out. The fact that MSNBC and the rest of the mainstream media can't seem to distinguish on this very important point is troubling.
