Reality Report: Michael Klare and the geopolitics of resource consumption

By Jason Bradford, originally published by Reality Report

February 12, 2009

NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.

Image RemovedRising Powers, Shrinking Planet is the latest book from Michael Klare, Director of the Peace and World Security Studies Program of the Five College Consortium in Amherst Massachusetts. Professor Klare has written widely on U.S. defense policy, the arms trade, and world security affairs. He has authored several books, and is the defense correspondent of The Nation and a Contributing Editor of Current History.

In this show, we discuss the geopolitics of resource competition. Nations are engaging in a dangerous zero sum game as they jostle over finite supplies of fossil fuels, including the positioning of opposing advanced weapons systems in unstable parts of the world. Will global warfare be the result, or is the current economic breakdown an opportunity to realize that the only workable “rescue package” is one that recognizes resource limits and the need for allocation of scarce goods and services towards productive ends, such as sustainable agriculture and renewable energy systems?

Jason Bradford

Dr. Jason Bradford is an organic farmer, and manager of Confluence Farms near Corvallis, Oregon. He has been affiliated with the Post Carbon Institute since 2004, initially as a Fellow. He is currently Board President and a co-host of the Crazy Town podcast. In 2019, he authored The Future is Rural: Food System Adaptations to the Great Simplification. Prior to his switch to agriculture, he was a research biologist studying evolution, ecology, and global change.

Tags: Coal, Consumption & Demand, Culture & Behavior, Energy Policy, Fossil Fuels, Geopolitics & Military, Industry, Natural Gas, Oil, Politics

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