The Next 20 Years Will Look Nothing Like the Past 20 Years

[Late2TheParty]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WBiTnBwSWc]Chris Martenson's presentation at the Gold & Silver Meeting in Madrid - YouTube[/ame]<---link

Ok, it's so refreshing to hear a scientist spell it out as it is, not some partisan who wants to make their party or politics look good. This is about the upcoming liquid fuel (oil) crisis based on data and the well know but little understood peak oil theory. This extends beyond oil and has implications for many elements such as gold, silver, copper, etc. mining.

The US Government knows this from the 2005 Hirsch Report and anybody who has been watching China the last decade knows they take this extremely seriously: from stories in the tech sector of them blocking rare earth minerals, to buying mines all over the globe especially in Africa and Afghanistan.

We're talking about a potential and total disruption of life which will make the 1970s oil crisis seem mild and the prices from 2008 seem like the good old days. You just need to listen for a few minutes to know that this guy knows what he is talking about and is passing it on honestly:

In this video Chris Martenson, economic analyst at Chris Martenson - Information on the global economy, environment, and our energy challenges. Real estate, oil, community, homes, money. - Chris Martenson, ChrisMartenson.com and author of 'The Crash Course', explains why he thinks that the coming 20 years are going to look completely unlike the last 20 years. In his presentation he focuses on the so-called three "Es": Economy, Energy and Environment. He argues that at this point in time it is no longer possible to view either one of those topics separately from one another.

Since all our money is loaned onto existence, our economy has to grow exponentially. Martenson proves this point empirically by showing a 99.9% fit of the actual growth curve of the last 40 years to an exponential curve. If we wanted to continue on this path, our debt load would have to double again over the next 10 years. By continually increasing our debt relative to GDP we are making the assumption that our future will always be wealthier than our past. He believes that this assumption is flawed and that the debt loads are already unmanageable.

Martenson explains how exponential growth works and why it is so scary that our economy is based on it. In an example he illustrates how unimaginably fast things speed up towards the end of an exponential curve. He shows that an exponential chart can be found in every one of the three "E's" for instance in GDP growth, oil production, water use or species extinction. Due to the natural limitations on resources, Martenson comes to the conclusion that we are facing a serious energy crisis.

This energy predicament is namely that the quantity of oil as well as the quality of oil are in decline. He shows that oil discoveries peaked in 1964 and oil production peaked 40 years later. Martenson also shows how our return on invested energy is rapidly declining -- the "cheap and easy" oil fields have already been exploited. In 1930 the energy return for oil was 100:1 or greater. Today it is already down to 3:1 and newer technologies such as corn-based ethanol only provide a 1.5:1 return. Martenson predicts that the time in between oil shocks will get shorter and shorter and that oil prices will go much higher.

Not only oil but also other natural resources are being rapidly used up as well. At the current projected pace of use, known reserves for many metals and minerals will be gone within the next 10 to 20 years. The energy needed to get these non-renewable resources out of the ground is growing exponentially. So we live in a world that must grow, but can't grow and is subject to depletion. The conclusion out of all this is that our money system is poorly designed and that we need to rethink how we do things as quickly as possible.

After finishing his presentation Chris Martenson answers questions regarding a rise in efficiency, alternative technologies and oil prices. He also responds to questions regarding electricity, shale gas, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and uranium and the race for global resources.

This video was recorded on November 16 at the Gold & Silver Meeting 2011 in Madrid.

It's a lot more interesting than this synopsis makes it sound. Very few scientists can speak well, and this guy is one of them.

More about Christian Martenson:
Christopher Martenson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[occupied]

It is a fact that we live on a planet in decline and hardly anyone has a real plan but screw that, drill babay, drill.