Peak Oil - What is it? Should we be Taking it seriously?

I've personally been interested in Peak Oil for some 4-5 years now, primarily because of the potential drastic impact that it could have on our economy and way of life.

This is the first of a series of posts that I'll be making on the issue. It's main pupose is to show that it is now very much a mainstream issue, that is being taken seriously by many well recognised media agencies.

This article by business week serves to exemplify this point:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_26/b4040074.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn

Here's a noteworthy passage from the article:

"Peak oil refers to the point at which world oil production plateaus before beginning to decline as depletion of the world's remaining reserves offsets ever-increased drilling. Some experts argue that we're already there, and that we won't exceed by much the daily production high of 84.5 million barrels first reached in 2005. If so, global production will bump along near these levels for years before beginning an inexorable decline.

What would that mean? Alternatives are still a decade away from meeting incremental demand for oil. With nothing to fill the gap, global economic growth would slow, stop, and then reverse; international tensions would soar as nations seek access to diminishing supplies, enriching autocratic rulers in unstable oil states; and, unless other sources of energy could be ramped up with extreme haste, the world could plunge into a new Dark Age.

GIVEN SUCH UNPLEASANT possibilities, you'd think peak oil would be a national obsession. But policymakers can hide behind the possibility that vast troves will be available from unconventional sources, or that secretive oil-exporting nations really have the huge reserves they claim. Yet even if those who say that the peak has arrived are wrong, enough disturbing omens—for example, declining production in most of the world's great oil fields and no new superfields to take up the slack—exist for the issue to merit an intense international focus."

My next post will be looking at the issues involved with Peak Oil in a little more detail. In particular I will be looking at what peak oil could mean for New Zealand's economy and New Zealander's lifestyles.

Should the voting age be lowered to 16?

Green MP Sue Bradford has drafted a Private Member's Bill aimed at reducing the voting age from 18 to 16.

DPF over at Kiwiblog has had this to say on the issue:

"Sure one can argue for 16. You can also argue for 12? Or even eight? I mean at eight years old I had a view on who to vote for. All age restrictions are somewhat arbitrary."

This is where his argument is quite weak. There is in fact a rational age at which people should be able to start voting, and that's 16.

Say for instance that we based voting age on ability to comprehend the relevant issues involved with the voting/political process. Quite a reasonable idea I think most people would agree.

Well, IQ research has found that scores in IQ tests flatten out at the age of 16 (or shortly before or after). http://www.psychologicaltesting.com/iqtest.htm

So, apart from probably having read a bit more, the average 18 year old is no more qualified to make an informed decision when it comes to voting. On the other hand the average 16 year old has a substantial advantage over the average 14 year old because their comprehension skills are substantially higher. So by this reasoning it can be said that 16 is the least arbitrary age to allow voting to start.