Peak Oil and the Fate of Humanity

“Peak Oil and the Fate of Humanity” is a PowerPoint book that deals with the future when oil production will no longer keep up with demand.

The author explains the importance of oil in our industrial society, what substitutes are possible and what difficulties they imply.

He then gives an example of a past society on Easter Island, which benefited from a temporary abundance and expanded its population beyond what the environment could sustain. He draws parallels with today’s technological society.

He goes further to explain how growth feeds upon growth and he provides insights about carrying capacity and the necessity of living within natural limits imposed by Nature.

Finally, he proposes that we save our technological civilization from extinction by mobilizing Canadians to take appropriate measures at the personal level, at the neighbourhood level, at the municipal level and the national level.

You can download one chapter at a time. Allow a minimum of an hour to view the 11 chapters.

The Chapters

1. Oil: The Lifeblood of a Technological Society
2. The Important Question: When Will Oil Peak?
3. Consequences of the Oil Decline
4A: Other Non-Renewable Sources of Energy
4B: Renewables: Wind and Solar Energy
5. The Fate of Easter Island
6. Parallels with Today’s Technological Society
7. How Growth Feeds on Growth
8. How we got ourselves into this situation
9. What You and I Can Do
10. Conclusion

The Author

ROBERT BÉRIAULT
Gatineau, QC, Canada
Member of “Ottawa-Gatineau Peak Oil Group”
Email: [email protected]

I am a retired biotechnology laboratory manager. Since I became involved in environmental issues 40 years ago the world population has almost doubled and the economic output and energy consumption have increased fivefold. Twice as many people go to bed hungry. All major indicators of environmental degradation demonstrate that the present Canadian way of life with the number of people striving for it is not sustainable.

Since my retirement I have created a sewing and screenprinting company that specialized in reusable shopping bags, founded the Val-des-Monts Recycling Association and was instrumental in founding the Ottawa-Gatineau Peak Oil Group.

I have read extensively on environmental issues and the more I read, the more I am convinced that we have greatly surpassed the Earth’s ability to support our technological civilization. Unless we take some strong measures really soon, we will run head to head with natural limits and that will mark the end of the comfortable life now enjoy.

I urge you to read this presentation carefully and to disseminate it amongst all your acquaintances. Please let me know your thoughts and ideas on how we can fix a very broken life support system.