Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
BP’s chief scientist on world’s energy / Back to the ancient future (redneck hippie writer on Olduvai) / Deficits, PO and the American Right / End of cheap oil / Unmentioned energy fix: 55 mph speed limits / Gas prices: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet / Greens ditch air travel / Logic of collapse (a meditation on Tainter)
George Bush’s energy adviser Matt Simmons claims the global economy has misjudged oil supply. (Article on Matt Simmons)
CBC summarizes Peak Oil / America, fascism and PO / PO Petition in UK / Down on nuclear / Dubious about Chalabi / Presidential leadership would help / Users of renewable energy are smiling / Cuba’s second revolution
So all’s well with the Axis of Oil? Not quite. This is because the symbiotic relationship between the world’s largest oil consumer [US] and its largest producer [SA] is under attack from a surprising corner. Complaints from greens about cheap oil, Bushphobic wailings from the Michael Moore brigade and neo-conservative worries about Saudi terrorism are all well established. But the axis is now being challenged by an increasing number of pragmatists from the centre-right of American politics.
“If you think the price of oil is going to $32 and staying there, let me know where the oil is coming from. I expect the price will be $100–$150 within the decade, and the bull run in commodities will come to an end when it reaches $110.” …alternative sources of energy “cannot happen fast enough,” said [Jim Rogers, co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund].
Background on PO from PowerSwitch / Oil companies doing GREAT / US economy doing not-so-great / More skeptics about US energy plans / Global warming measured / Haybales may save us / Giant NZ diary turns to renewables
A two hour radio show featuring an interview with Julian Darley of the Post Carbon Institute and a presentation on the ‘New Agrarianism’ from the First National Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions by Charles Stevens.
I see food as a powerful unifying force in society, it has been so throughout our history….
Food is the vehicle, community is the destination.
I look forward to the day when farmers claim their rightful place in society as the first line of defense in our health care system and are properly compensated for their work.
Worldwide production of essential crops such as wheat, rice, maize and soya beans is likely to be hit much harder by global warming than previously predicted.
If [peak oil] appears to have suddenly “burst” onto the scene it’s due to two principle factors: 1) the “tipping point” is only now fast being realized, and 2) the rise of the internet has given the public a comprehensive, responsive and uncensored media forum in which to recognize it….the case for Peak Oil has been slowly pieced together by a kind of open committee of researchers–some admittedly dubious or ill-informed, but many quite well-informed and highly regarded.
MSN-Money discovers PO / 8 pages on Edinburgh Conference / Jason Bradford talks PO to Rotary / Skeptical responses to Bush’s energy plan / Economist magazine tells why oil prices may drop / Britain going nuclear? / Chalabi in charge of Iraq oil / more
Hitting all the points in a noted GOP pollster’s playbook, the President’s plan is driven by politics not policy. Worse, it won’t cut oil dependency.
