Peak oil – Aug 22

August 22, 2007

NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.

Click on the headline (link) for the full text.

Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Matthew Simmons interview: All the Canaries Have Stopped Singing
(Audio)
Jim Puplava, Financial Sense News Hour
Matthew R. Simmons graduated cum laude from the University of Utah and received a Masters degree with distinction in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He then served on the faculty as a research associate for two years. In 1974, he founded Simmons & Company International. He is past Chairman of the National Ocean Industries Association and a trustee of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Associates – Harvard Business School and past President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association. He serves as a Board Member of Brown-Forman Corporation, the Center for Houston’s Future, Houston Technology Center, ICIC and The Atlantic Council of The United States of America. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.
(18 August 2007)
Forty-five minute interview. No transcript available as of August 22.Forty-five minute interview. Comments on the recent National Petroleum Council (NPC) report, and peak oil trends.

No transcript available as of August 22.


The Social Effects of Peak Oil
(Video and audio)
Rowan Wolf and Janaia Donaldson, Peak Moment via Global Public Media

Image Removed How will rising oil prices affect low- and middle-class lives? Sociologist and professor Rowan Wolf sees at-risk populations growing while government services and class divides are increasingly strained. A member of the Portland Peak Oil Task Force, she discusses relocalizing our economies, to counter globalization based on an unsupportable grow-or-die economic model. Episode 69.

Janaia Donaldson hosts Peak Moment, a television series emphasizing positive responses to energy decline and climate change through local community action. How can we thrive, build stronger communities, and help one another in the transition from a fossil fuel-based lifestyle?
(21 August 2007)


A Closer Look At Escape from Suburbia

Dale Allen Pfeiffer, Speaking Truth to Power
I was asked to review Escape from Suburbia, the latest effort by the team that made The End of Suburbia. Now, I could have offered up a bit of saccharine dripping prose and let it go at that. It would have pleased everyone connected with the film without making waves. But it would not be honest. It is too late in the game to simply go on pleasing people. It is time to be honest, even if it hurts.

Escape from Suburbia was supposed to show how people who are aware of energy depletion and the other problems that threaten to destroy our civilization are dealing with it. The film follows the efforts of three groups of people, a gay couple from New York, a single mother from Toronto, and a couple of well-educated hippies from Oregon. It also looks at the fate of a community garden in LA and the efforts of a small town in California. Along the way there are lots of blurbs by the talking heads of peak oil.

The most honest and informative segments of the documentary are the portions following the couple from New York and the scenes about the South Central Community Farm in LA. The couple in New York came across as very concerned, both for themselves and for others. They could find no easy answers, and their efforts at community organizing and learning essential skills only served to make them aware of how truly desperate the situation is. They do not want to be trapped in New York when things start breaking down, yet they do not know where to go or how to provide for themselves once they get there. In the end, their situation remains unresolved. They continue to take what steps they can, learning survival skills while looking for a way out of New York.

The portion of the film dealing with South Central Community Farm illustrates both the vulnerability of community gardens within our socioeconomic system and the plight of poorer people in dealing with what is to come.
(20 August 2007)


Can American government survive “peak oil”?

Jay Hanson, Killer Ape-Peak Oil group
Starting on Sept 1, I will lead a moderated group discussion on the how American government really works, “essence” of politics, money and the economy. Posters must be familiar with “peak oil”, basic thermodynamics and evolution theory.

Is “the economy” really efficient?

What precisely IS money and what function does “the economy” actually serve in liberal democracies?

Recently there has been some talk of a “new economics”, but do we really need a new economics? Perhaps we need a “new politics” instead?

What’s the difference?

Is World War Three inevitable?

If you or you friends would like to participate, register at
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/killer_ape-peak_oil/

Jay Hanson — www.warsocialism.com
(18 August 2007)
Jay Hanson is the original creator of www.dieoff.com site.


Gregory Green, Director of Escape from Suburbia

The Stimulator, “End of the World as We Know It”, subMedia
This Week:
1. Global Financial Armageddon
2. Bin Ladin’s Tornado Machine
3. Time to get Il
4. boemtjak vs soi
5. Garden Gossip
6. Gregory Greene’s “Escape from Suburbia”

View at “subMedia”:http://submedia.tv or subscribe via “Democracy Player”:http://subscribe.getdemocracy&46;com/?url1=http%3A//submedia.tv/submediatv/bm/rss.php?i=1 or “iTunes”:itpc://submedia&46;tv/submediatv/bm/rss.php?i=1.
(19 August 2007)
Interview with Green starts about four minutes into the video. If you are offended by four-letter words, you might want to steer clear. -BA


Tags: Culture & Behavior, Energy Infrastructure, Fossil Fuels, Oil, Overshoot