Survivalists get ready for global meltdown

Deborah Feyerick, CNN

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By Tiffany Griffin

Story Created: Jun 5, 2008 at 10:55 AM EST

Story Updated: Jun 5, 2008 at 11:04 AM EST

With oil prices soaring, a small but growing number of Americans are bracing for a global meltdown.

They say they're ready for it and plan to ride it out.

Iver Lofving is convinced the world is running out of oil. He's spent the last ten years getting ready for that day — a mainstream survivalist, chopping his own wood, installing solar panels, growing vegetables, even driving a solar-powered-car — all of it geared to becoming self-sufficient.

"Call me crazy, but I'm crazy like a fox. This house makes half its own energy, two thirds the hot water, half the heat, a small part of the electricity, half the gasoline," said Lofving.

Lofving is a high school teacher who lives in Skowhegan, Maine, roughly two hours north of Portland.

He believes a world driven by cheap oil is coming to an end and peak oil is playing a large role.

"Well, peak oil has everything to do with it,” said Lofving.

Peak oil is the point when global oil production peaks and then goes down. The remaining oil supply is limited and will be harder to get at. That means fewer barrels a day.

Some oil experts say that day is here, others predict it's 20 to 30 years away. But as gas prices rise, websites like PeakOil.com and SurvivalBlog.com are getting more and more visitors — talking about the end of cheap oil and the possible threat of political and economic instability around the world.

Peak oil groups, like Lofving's, have seen a spike in members.

"I think things can have the potential to get very, very bad if we don't do anything. I really do," said Lofving.

Unlike some survivalists, Lofving has not started raising chickens or stockpiling a years-worth of food and ammunition, but he is thinking of a bigger garden and maybe a small boat … just in case.

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