Matt Simmons - He will be missed

Well the news broke this morning that Matt Simmons a well known oil investor and peak oil expert has passed away. I just wanted to give my condolences to his family and to say that Matt's insight and expertise in the area of peak oil will be missed.

In some ways it was Matt Simmons and his analysis of the world oil supply situation that helped push me to begin prepping. It was his analysis of the energy supplies, their limited nature, and how close we are to reaching that tipping point that helped move me past just talking about what is happening to actually doing something about it.

Once you start to learn about the limited oil supply situation, global growth, and the declining world oil production we start to connect the dots to how we depend on oil for everything it becomes quite scary. Matt clearly and concisely lays out the oil situation from the prospective of a man whose company makes its money in the oil industry. He wasn't a "Johnny come lately" analyst, but someone who's livelihood is based on energy.

I would encourage you to check out Matt's book and some documentaries he has appeared in which tell the peak oil story and why we all need to take action today to minimize our oil use, begin investing in alternatives to offset our dependence on oil. It is quite an alarming story and the possibilities are limited as far as how much oil we can offset with new technology. This all ties in directly to our prepper plans and make sure that we understand our dependencies, and the risks going forward. I believe we will certainly see oil prices skyrocket as global currencies collapse, and as China and India continue to grow and billions of people start using cars, trucks and many of the things that we in the US take for granted which depend on and use oil. This declining world oil production story will be headlines in this decade and our inaction today could cost us all dearly if we don't prepare and make changes to the way we use energy now. Matt is one of the pioneers that lays out the story as to why we need to be concerned with analysis of the facts and if we choose to ignore his warnings we do so at our own peril.

Twilight in the Desert - The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy
The End of Suburbia - Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream(Documentary)
A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash





It is extremely important that we understand Peak Oil concepts, and how it will impact us in our prepper plans and how it will change our lives. Some say we have reached a point that we are in a "Peak Everything" state. Peak water, peak food, peak oil... How this peak energy situation impacts those other areas is quite obvious. 10 calories of energy are burned to bring you 1 calorie of food to your plate. Our world is addicted to oil. This means we need to develop local markets, local farms, local relationships if we are going to be able to adjust to this energy crisis. This story will only continue to grow more pressing as we reach that point where it is obvious that demand has outstripped global supply. At that point all bets are off and the conflict and competition for the remaining resources will be the headlines of the day.

Even today we see China investing in energy and energy exploration with their large cash reserves and bidding wars in Iraq for oil have been taking place with China coming out on top. Today we don't seem to be connecting the dots as to what this means to us, but it will become quite obvious in the not so distant future.

So it is with sadness that I learned that Matt Simmons passed away last evening. His insight, expertise, and analysis of the global energy situation will be sorely missed. Thank you Matt! You helped to wake me up, raised my awareness, and forced me to go beyond flapping my gums to actually doing something about it. For that I thank you... Rest in peace Matt, you did good!