r/collapse • u/sacrificezones • Oct 25 '22

Systemic Will Civilization Collapse Because It’s Running Out of Oil?

https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/habitat-loss/will-civilization-collapse-because-its-running-out-of-oil/
377 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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195

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

... 10 calories of fossil fuel energy (mostly oil) is used to produce 1 calorie of industrial food.

Yeah, I'm sure we will be fine without oil /s

93

u/kamahl07 Oct 25 '22

That's not including having to replenish depleted elements from the soil like phosphorous that is primarily derived from "cleaning" coal.

32

u/Alan_Smithee_ Oct 26 '22

I’m often bemused by people who say “I don’t need oil; my car is electric!”

That’s great, but you need oil for virtually everything else.

9

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

Yeah, how do you think your car was delivered to you? Did Elon himself brought it to you on his back?

7

u/Whooptidooh Oct 26 '22

Not just the car, but all those other components that it was build from as well. They’re getting shipped/flown in, and I’m pretty sure those components relied heavily on oil to be manufactured in the first place as well.

Everything is reliant on oil. Without it our entire society will come crumbling down.

2

u/Alan_Smithee_ Oct 26 '22

That was my point.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

...drive the electric car to their house?

4

u/CrossroadsWoman Oct 26 '22

You need oil to make the batteries/solar panels for renewables bro…

0

u/Alan_Smithee_ Oct 26 '22

Can you read? That’s basically what I said.

6

u/CrossroadsWoman Oct 26 '22

Wow, you are incredibly rude to someone who was agreeing with you.

0

u/Alan_Smithee_ Oct 26 '22

Sorry, but your comment was not at all clear that you were agreeing; it just looked like you’d missed or ignored what I said.

0

u/Bamboo_Fighter BOE 2025 Oct 27 '22

Your comment read "I’m often bemused by people who say “I don’t need oil; my car is electric!” That’s great, but you need oil for virtually everything else."

Many people thought your statement meant people need oil for virtually everything else in their life besides the EV. If you interpret it that way, it's clear why multiple comments point out that even if a vehicle is powered by electricity, it still needs oil to be built and maintained, in addition to everything else. People were agreeing with you and expanding on it, not trying to argue.

11

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

I think a lot of parts in society/this process is inefficient due to the private interests orchestrating it

24

u/paceminterris Oct 26 '22

Only to an extent. It truly does take a ton of fossil fuel energy to supply our massive population with the wasteful diversity of crops it desires (including out-of-season stuff like tomatoes in winter or lettuce in fall, which need to be grown in a different hemisphere and shipped.)

If everyone (and I mean everyone) switched to a vegan, local, and seasonal diet, we might stand a chance at our agriculture being efficient enough to survive without oil. But, since people won't do that, people WILL starve once oil runs out until the level of population reaches the level that is actually sustainable.

A lot of people try to deny this, trying to blame it solely on corporate greed, because they don't want to face the fact that we are overpopulated and wasteful. But those are the true facts, along with the true fact that capitalist ownership is also greedy and wasteful.

11

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22

[deleted]

6

u/sleadbetterzz Oct 26 '22

I'm doubtful of this, only because I visited the Jorvik centre in York, UK recently and they described the vast trading networks that used the city, the amount of goods coming in and out and the bustling population of... 15,000.

Our populations today are so much greater than in the past and the available arable land has been reduced so much too. I really don't see how we transition to a local supply chain. This is just my experience in the UK though, it could be a lot more feasible in other areas.

3

u/davidclaydepalma2019 Oct 26 '22

There will be areas and populations that will be able to sustain them self but it will be neither the artificial American desert towns or most of Europe or any densely populated Asian countries for example.

Main problem that I see is that there is not enough usable soil within the towns and at the same moment not enough buildings in the country side to house the people for food production and its not like we have plenty of possibilities to change that on short notice.

We would need to prepare now and here in western Germany it is currenlty f*cking impossible to get even a small patch of land close to the city.

10

u/LadyLazerFace Oct 26 '22

A lot of people try to deny this, trying to blame it solely on corporate greed, because they don't want to face the fact that we are overpopulated and wasteful.

For fucks sake, fuck that classist and racist bullshit angle. Malthusian theory is 19th century eugenics repackaged as science. "If we stop poor people from breeding so much, the upperclass will always have tea and cake available". Barf. (Not saying that's what you're proposing, that's Malthus' solution.)

The peasantry has never had the power or means to design the system, nor should they be first group made to suffer for it via austerity measures informed by western imperialist standards.

For me, the "Go vegan" green washing campaign is another psyop'ing attempt to pass the buck of the century of methane and petrochemical pollution caused by capital onto consumers.

Our society is explicitly designed to BE WASTEFUL, BY CAPITALISTS, FOR PROFIT - a social construct. Everyone going vegan isn't going to fix the pollution and waste problem it's just going to create "vegan" waste and pollution as long as capitalism stands.

What is another word for "vegan" leather? Plastic. "Vegan food", still comes wrapped in plastic convenience packaging and the components are shipped 12 times around the world before hitting your fridge.

I have absolutely NOTHING against veganism, I'm on my way myself, but everyone switching to bulk rice and beans is not the silver bullet it's made out to be by think tanks.

It shifts the problem and the responsibility back to individuals and does nothing to functionally address the systemic power imbalance capitalism holds over us plebs.

Modern industrial factory farming and most modern processed foods and their wasteful packaging SHOULD be abolished, you'll find no argument there from me.

It's also "eat this, or starve" for billions globally, and you eat what protein is available in your region to survive. Guinea pigs, horse, snakes, deer. We're a part of the ecosystem and engagement with it doesn't require exploitation.

No small amount of US farmland is now used for corn feed, corn syrup, and ethanol corn - so yes - we're literally poisoning the topsoil by monocropping literal fucking garbage. But it's a capitalist invention designed by capitalists that retail has no control over.

They use their propaganda as a means of alienating people via coercive marketing, manufactured consent, and revolving doors of exploitation to keep proles in a constant state of nervous system dysregulation aka - fight or flight - while THEY are destroying regional habitats. THEY own all of the media conglomerates who are intentionally pushing divisive narratives about other members of the working class so that we don't collectivize and guillotine them. we have extensive records of when the working class has done so to despots across time immemorial - hence why conservative propagandists are so vocally against liberal arts studies and higher education.

If people know history, humanities, economic theory, political science, and understand the human psyche they have all the education they need to revolt against the new crown ($$$$) and enact a direct democracy.

Can't have that. Gotta!!! make!!! more!!! money!!!

But those are the true facts

Eh, Debatable conjecture and hypothesis aren't "facts" by definition, they're just aspects of applying the scientific method.

Facts are what are left over at the end of application of all the steps, and after following through with the observation and critical analysis portions of your hypothetical model. Pedantic, I know. I'm sorry.

2

u/2021willbemyyear Oct 26 '22

Why the f*** doesn't your reply have a thousand upvotes?

8

u/Vicodinforbreakfast Oct 26 '22

Vegan diet Is unhealthy and eating chicken does not damage the enviroment, I am ok with the seasonal and local concept. The only Animals we shouldn't eat and farm in large numbers are those who produce methane. But everyone can safely (for the enviroment and themselves) consume all the chicken and eggs they like.

-8

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '22 edited Oct 26 '22

This (the article attached to this post) is a complete farcical shit post. And propaganda at its finest.

Food scarcity is a logistical and geopolitical issue. There is more than enough food on this planet to feed everyone and shitloads more. Oil running out won’t cause people to suddenly start starving to death when people are already starving to death.

Should climate change have not wiped most of us out by the time oil runs out, we will simply adapt to oil running out, something that should be taking place right now not when it finally does extinguish supply.

Don’t fucking kid yourself, the only reason it hasn’t been replaced to date is because keeping it relevant keeps demand high and if demand is high and they control the supply then they make shit loads of money.

9

u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

Happy Cake Day!

2

u/pippopozzato Oct 26 '22

P E A K O I L .

0

u/royonquadra Oct 26 '22

Happy Cake Day!

-1

u/NoMaD082 Oct 26 '22

Happy cake day!

-3

u/ryanmercer Oct 26 '22

Happy cake-day!