Beware the black sticky stuff: the media, marmite and peak oil
While the media goes around in circles chasing its own tail Jason Heppenstall wonders when, if ever, peak oil issues will be given serious column inches…
Year: 2012
The nitrogen cycle and health
Nitrogen is necessary for life on earth to continue and the nitrogen cycle is one of the most important nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. Everything that lives needs nitrogen; it is required for the manufacture of complex molecules such as chlorophyll, proteins and DNA, and also for the production of enzymes necessary for growth, reproduction and other vital functions. However, when present in excess, nitrogen poses risks both to the environment and human health.
Commodification: the essence of our time
The dominant process underlying the transformation of life in all societies, since at least the mid-nineteenth century, is the conversion of things and activities into commodities, or commodification. In advanced capitalist countries this process is now outstripping our political and social capacity to adjust to it. Any useful economic analysis needs to foreground this process. Mainstream economics does not do this.
My ‘Gasland’ ‘Tis of Thee
It is one thing to read about the fight over the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing or fracking that are associated with natural gas drilling in deep shale formations. It’s quite another to see that fight captured on film. The documentary film Gasland provides a compelling, if one-sided, portrait of the devastation visited on the lives of those who live closest to the drilling.
ODAC Newsletter – Mar 30
While awareness of peak oil has advanced light years since ODAC was founded over a decade ago, on the evidence of this week the same cannot be said for the conduct of British energy policy. Back in 2000, Tony Blair’s government was blindsided by petrol protests that brought the country to a standstill in 48 hours. Mr Blair bore the scars, and while there was much to criticise in New Labour’s energy policy—not least the invasion of Iraq—he developed emergency plans and did not allow a serious recurrence…
Power shifts – Mar 30
-Why baseload power is doomed
-For New Generation of Power Plants, a New Emission Rule From the E.P.A.
-Germany’s $263 Billion Renewables Shift Biggest Since War
-Renewables LinkedIn to growth surge
-Japan faces nuclear-free summer, power shortage risks
Tired of waiting for the barbarians
The apocalypse is a dramatic way to talk about peak oil, climate change and economic collapse. But a new book, ‘The Last Myth,’ claims this story isn’t helpful.
Getting Started – Atwater Street Cooperative, a Transition Street in-the-making
Sometimes, if we step back to think about all of the challenges, we get a little overwhelmed. How do you transition a street, and a neighborhood, in an American city of great extremes between the wealthy and the poor?
More than the deck chairs: ASPO-USA launches webinar series
Given the tsunami of energy misinformation in the media right now, ASPO-USA’s role in providing accurate analysis of our domestic and global energy situation has never been more important.
Therefore, ASPO-USA is launching a series of monthly webinar programs, where members and donors will have the opportunity to see and hear presentations by distinguished speakers. The first will take place Thursday: “Shale Gas Update, with Art Berman.”
What does a new economy look like?
The Atmos Totnes campaign, which is seeking to bring the town’s former Dairy Crest site into community ownership, and its vision of the site as ‘the heart of a new economy’, are at the cutting edge of thinking about the economy of the future. At least, that was the opinion of many of the delegates at the Social Enterprise Exchange in Glasgow, the world’s biggest social enterprise event.
The peak oil crisis: Our natural gas glut
With global warming driving down the demand for natural gas as a home heating fuel and natural gas drillers producing record amounts, an oversupply situation has developed quickly. Stocks of natural gas are rising. As a result natural gas prices have fallen way below profitability and drillers are scrambling to cut back production.
The Collapse of Complex Societies (review)
The Collapse of Complex Societies is a useful book. Its model seems valid enough to me, and it contains a wealth of historical background. But I think most readers of this site already have a good idea where this society is headed. For the kind of wisdom that might point to renewal — towards which we still have to work, even if it happens long after we’re gone — we need to look elsewhere.
