Peak oil – Dec 13

December 13, 2006

NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.

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Coming Soon – Escape from Suburbia!

Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture
Image RemovedI’m sure there are very few of you out there who haven’t seen The End of Suburbia. Well, its sequel, Escape from Suburbia is on its way, you can now view the trailer over at You Tube and it does look really rather good.

Image RemovedCultivate, the Centre for Sustainable Living in Dublin just showed a special 15 minute preview and the excitement is building. Have a look at the trailer, tell your friends, and brace yourself for what promises to be the mother of all sequels (even better than Dumb and Dumberer…).
(13 Dec 2006)
We could embed the film here, but why not go watch it and vote it up over at You Tube – it really does look like a slick production. -AF


Review – New Peak Oil Film “Crude Impact”

Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture
Image RemovedLast week I watched the new peak oil film, Crude Impact, produced by Vista Clara films, which has just emerged on DVD. It describes itself as “a film about how energy use, particularly fossil fuels, has impacted the earth, mankind and other species”, and is one of a couple of new peak oil films coming out over the next few months. I had been looking forward to seeing it for some time, and I found it to be an extremely well-made film which clearly and passionately presents the argument that we are at or near the peak, which will be a transition of historic importance.
(12 Dec 2006)


An Interview with James Howard Kunstler

Mark Givens, MungBeing
…He is a passionate author, a painter, an insightful social critic, and a sharp-witted observer. His latest book is called “The Long Emergency” and it talks about life after “peak oil” – or, as he describes it in this interview, “the cheap oil fiesta of the late 20th century”.

His “Clusterfuck Nation” is loaded with his commentary on our social condition and his “Eyesore of the Month” serves to remind us, with wit and sincerity, of the horrible things we’re doing to our surroundings.

But most of all, James Howard Kunstler gives voice to the uneasy feelings that bubble up within us, from the discomfort and confusion regarding our current urban environment to the uncertainty regarding our future post-cheap oil.
(Dec 2006)


Elephants and Quagmires: Peak Oil and the Bush Denial

Bill Henderson, Al-Jazeerah
While the Bush administration, the media and nearly all the Democrats still refuse to explain the war in Iraq in terms of oil, the ever-pragmatic members of the Iraq Study Group share no such reticence.

Page 1, Chapter 1 of the Iraq Study Group report lays out Iraq’s importance to its region, the U.S. and the world with this reminder: “It has the world’s second-largest known oil reserves.” Antonia Juhasz

An administration full of oilmen, cognizant of ‘peak oil’ and America’s dependence upon a Middle East containing 60% of the world’s remaining cheap oil, faced with a dictator in oh so central and tempting, incredibly oil-rich Iraq, who as a sworn enemy was threatening oil flow not only from Iraq but from the wider Gulf, chose a military solution: shock and awe and regime change.
(11 Dec 2006)


The Foundations of Peak-Oil Doomerism

Richard Embleton, Oil, be seeing you
…How can both sides [peak oil optimists and doomers] fear the same event and, as a result, gravitate toward such extreme opposites? It’s a fair question. The simplified answer, in my opinion, rests in how those in the opposing camps view our current global society. Both sides, I believe, are arguing from the perspective of the type of society they want or believe will emerge on the other side of that energy decline. The peak oil optimists argue from a desire and/or belief that our current society is essentially good and that we will do what is necessary to keep it going into the future. The peak oil pessimists largely believe that the technology on which our current society is based is unsustainable, that we do not act to prevent catastrophes but, instead, wait until they happen and then react to them, and most importantly that there are so many converging potential catastrophes that if one doesn’t get us another will.

…I am most often identified with the doomer camp, though I do try to find balance in my arguments. Being in that camp, therefore, I will attempt to use my own motivations to help others understand that pervasive doom-and-gloom that peak-oil optimists like to attack. After all, if you can’t shoot down the message then do your best to shoot down the messenger.
(8 Dec 2006)


Tags: Building Community, Education, Fossil Fuels, Oil