Nothing New to older generation.

George Monbiot is not saying anything new. Most rational older people within western society see that our life style is not sustainable with the world increasing population that the corporate world promotes. Unfortunatly with human nature as it is and greed as it is it's only going to change as a result of some monumental catastrophy. We are clearly no longer in control and have become so dependant on our material world and that's me included.

Natural attrition

Our global reliance on oil will deminish through natural attrition; the economies with money will have the larger slice of the Petrochemical cake, with smaller economies falling by the wayside. The sheer cost of obtaining a barrel of oil will rise dramatically as we move past peak oil, and search our remaining Petrochemical sources, Shale oil etc. As prices increase, the general public will re-think their stratagies in relation to transport needs, the first probably being air travel for vacation

George Monbiot

Thank you for the wonderful interview with George Monbiot. George made great sense.....pity we do not hear more of these views from politicians and business! Neo-liberal 'business as usual' approaches to government and business decision making has proven unsustainable and divisive - eg Indonesion orangutang destruction and the GFC. The environment is not ours to subdue and conquer......the sooner individuals and decisions makers move towards more conscious living, the better.

He's right!

The real oil crunch will hit in 2012. For those struggling to get a handle on Peak Oil, picture this. The IEA told us in November 2008 that just to cope with the annual production depletion out to 2030 (20 years hence), the world's oil industry needs to find the equivalent of another 4 Saudi Arabia's. With increased demand we'll require another 6! It is just not possible to find new oil, increase production from unconventional sources of oil or find alternatives on this scale. That's Peak Oil!

Almighty markets

We've already had the HIGHER PRICES (mid-2008) which as Monbiot alluded to, was a contributing factor to the GFC. How HIGH can PRICES go, how long can they stay high, before our way of life is permanently affected? And just this week, we've seen how technology improves, with the explosion and sinking of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm afraid wishful thinking and a belief in the Holy Trinity of Markets, Technology, and Dynamism are not going to produce a new Bass Straight or Saudi Arabia.

Malthus just won't die

These Malthusian arguements just keep coming back. Would it be too much to ask these journalists, before they make broad, alarmist crackpot stories about how the economy/human society will collapse as a result of peak oil/resource depletion whatever the recent thing is, take a basic economics course, or at least research a little into the subject. An economy is DYNAMIC, technology improves and responds to shortages as they are shown in HIGHER PRICES. This is not armaggedon, this is markets.

More George Monbiot

Hi Cathrine. Thanks for your comments about the interview. Click here to see an extended version of that interview on this website. There are also links to more of George's work on the right-hand side of this page.

George Monbiot

Can we please have more of George Monbiot..........at last a journalist who tells it like it is, without being pompous or arrogant or being swayed by this side or that side of politics - only what is best for all of us. Please SBS, how about a longer interview next time.