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Media Release

August 22 2006

Oil supply past its Peak?

It’s the question on everybody’s lips - why do we have sustained high petrol prices?

Is this, as some pundits suggest, just a blip on our economic horizon – an “oil shock” in the words of Federal Treasurer Peter Costello – stimulated by events in the Middle East and China’s energy demands? Or is there more to it?

Is it possible that we have hit “Peak Oil”, the halfway point in the worldwide availability of oil? If so, what are the alternatives to fossil fuel? How can we adapt our cities, and the way we live, to cope?

The Hawke Centre at UniSA, committed to putting hard issues up for community debate, presents Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s foremost Peak Oil educators, and David Holmgren, environmental design consultant, author and teacher, in a free public lecture Peak oil or oil shock? Energy security and pathways to a sustainable future at UniSA’s City East campus on Monday August 28.

“Peak Oil is the point at which the world can no longer continue to increase the supply of crude oil. It is now recognised as a serious threat to our consumption-driven, globalised economy on wheels,” Richard Heinberg said.

“But it can also be considered a tipping-point in our delicate relationship with the planet. And while the jury is out on the actual date of the world peak, even oil companies agree it will occur in the foreseeable future.”

After giving a detailed briefing on the world situation, Holmgren and Heinberg will explain how Peak Oil provides an important opportunity to implement a wide range of positive, environmentally-benign, economic and social alternatives that will help us bridge the energy gap.

“We can take advantage of the opportunities that Peak Oil represents to rebuild our personal and household self-reliance,” Holmgren said. “We can relocalise our communities and economies. And we can succeed in navigating the rapids of our looming energy descent.

“Using technology that is available today, and 25 years of permaculture-inspired bottom-up solutions to problem-solving, we can overcome the avalanche of confusing disinformation coming from vested interests, and assist people to adapt to and excel in the challenges and opportunities to come.”

A Hawke Centre free public lecture
Peak oil or oil shock? Energy security and pathways to a sustainable future
7pm for a 7.30pm start, Monday 28 August
Basil Hetzel Building, Mutual Community Theatre, UniSA City East campus
Presented by Adelaide Peak Oil and The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre
Sponsored by SAFF Fuels
Bookings via the Hawke Centre web site, www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au or RSVP line 08 8302 0215

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