One of the other conspiracies I talked about with my Scouts at the camp on the weekend, was probably less of a conspiracy, and more of a theory regarding the future of the planet.

The concept I introduced them to was the concept of Peak Oil. This theory proposes that at some point in time, in the future or possibly in the past, we will have reached a peak in the production of oil in the world. What this means is that from that point onwards, the amount of oil we can extract from this planet will become less, and will cost more to do so.

The problem is, that despite this lowering production of oil, we will still continue to use more and more oil in our everyday lives, resulting in skyrocketing oil prices.

Due to our planet's dependance on oil-based products, and our lack of use of renewable energy sources, our planet will eventually slip into a state of perpetual war for oil and other resources. Products produced from oil by-products will also increase in price - plastics, pesticides, these will all become more and more expensive.

Some will say that we are already seeing signs of this, for instance the war in Iraq and the Middle-East in general (anyone care to guess who's next?).

Can we as a race survive peak oil? I would guess so, but I see that in the coming 20-30 years our planet will be struck by more and more wars, famines will break out, initially in third world countries who can't afford pesticides, and eventually in second and first world countries. This would drastically reduce the population of the planet. I would hazard to guess that if you don't live in the U.S. or Europe, you'd probably be out of luck.

Can alternative energy sources be found in time? Possibly, but is it possible for us to replace oil completely in such a short time frame. Things would seem to indicate that this is unlikely, especially as more and more money is pumped into extracting what little oil remains.

What kind of a future does this leave us with? Who knows? I've heard plenty of end of the world type theories in my lifetime, but this one seems to hit me in ways I've never thought of before. It made me question whether or not it is world bringing children into this world, especially if we're going to see trouble in my lifetime.

I guess in the end there is not much I can do, except be aware of the potential problem, do my part to reduce oil consumtion and perhaps donate more to the cause of research into renewable resources. I've never let theories such as this from stopping me from living my life to it's fullest so I'm not about change my life now because of it.

But somewhere, in the back of my head, is a voice telling me that this theory might just come true......