This afternoon me and a few other members of the Nelson Peak Oil Study and Action Group met with some students from the various colleges around Nelson. A handful of teenagers showed up. We showed them a slide show that had been prepared some months ago for a presentation to the Nelson City Council. We wanted some feedback from them as to how it could be adapted to better get the message out to their age group.
These young people blew me away with not only their understanding of this mammoth problem, but their energy, creativity, and enthusiasm to 'own' the problem and tackle it head-on. Unfortunately they face the same problem that we do. Most of their peers are blissfully unaware and many would like to stay that way. The ideas that came forth were great. We ripped the slide show apart (figuratively), redesigned it, rearranged it (according to a teenagers priorities), and condensed it significantly. One student is using his media studies class to write an article on peak oil for the school newspaper (which is arguably one of the best college newspapers in the country). Another student suggested a way to use her performing arts class to create a short drama based on "The long fingers of petroleum", which graphically illustrates how much we depend on oil for everyday materials by stripping them away one by one until we are left with nothing but our cotton underwear (minus elastic). I can just imagine this idea adapted for the stage and thought it was a fantastic idea.
After the two hour meeting(which was only supposed to go for an hour) we decided to meet again in a fortnight, and we set up a Yahoo group to share ideas, links, files, and generally keep in touch. The name they choose for the group I think was particularly appropriate. After the concept of the red or blue pills of Alice in Wonderland, or The Matrix, depending on which generation you're from, they called it the "Red Pill Gang".
7:24:17 PM 
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