Month: June 2009

Here in Iraq, I’ve had interesting conversations over the past few days with some of my soldiers. Those exchanges illuminate the problem we face in getting people to understand the gravity of our energy situation. The guys I was talking to are some of my better soldiers; they’re savvy, intelligent, and aware of international issues. We started talking about energy, and the issue of an eventual peak of crude oil production. Most of them didn’t have a problem conceptually understanding that there would someday be a peak and then a decline. But when it came to contemplating and understanding the consequences of that eventuality, there was intellectual disbelief. In their minds, there are too many ‘obvious’ alternative solutions.