Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
-Cabot’s Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking
-Shale gas report by health officer may remain secret
-Experts: Despite China’s efforts, technology constraints could curb shale gas development
-Water problem in shale is drawing a flood of capital
-Penn State Faculty Snub of Fracking Study Ends Research
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Middle East
-Europe
-Gasoline Prices
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
For indigenous peoples, resilience is rooted in traditional knowledge, as their capacity to adapt to environmental change is based first and foremost on in-depth understanding of the land. As climate change increasingly impacts indigenous landscapes, communities are responding and adapting in unique ways.
The launch of the Bristol Pound on 19 September was the subject of international media attention, and rightly so. The decision by a whole city to reject the pound sterling and take charge of its monetary affairs is an exciting and unique one. However, the most important aspect of the Bristol Pound went widely unreported: the local council is prepared to accept it for payment of local taxes. Once a political authority underwrites a local currency in this way it can become a viable alternative, and the Bristol Pound is the first currency that has been accepted in this way in the UK.
We are not quite out of gas yet in the United States. But we keep steaming down fjords without outlets, turning randomly from one blind alley to the next in trying to adapt to our energy quandary. In Captain Cook’s case, he was exploring with zero information, so there was a good chance of failure. But when it comes to energy alternatives, we can avoid dead ends, since we have what Captain Cook didn’t have, information on the best alternatives. This post is about the science of net energy regarding those options.
Many people dismiss the risks associated with oil depletion and climate change–even many who accept the two issues as problems. They judge those risks to be small or at least manageable. Since no one can know the future, we cannot be sure whether they are right or wrong. But even if they are right, should we be so sanguine? As we examine this question, keep in mind that we are talking about probabilities and the level of risk, not absolute knowledge which none of us can have about the future.
As U.S. retail gasoline prices once again near $4.00 a gallon, does this pose a threat to the economy and President Obama’s prospects for re-election? My answer is no.
Do we really want to take the risk that buying those local apples will turn us into North Korea?
In this one hour presentation, Richard Heinberg explains the close link between the resource/environment and the social/economic components of the present disintegration.
QE3, the Federal Reserve’s third round of quantitative easing, is so open-ended that it is being called QE Infinity. Doubts about its effectiveness are surfacing even on Wall Street.
Abandoned by the state of Pennsylvania and drilling company Rex Energy after the state’s testing found no evidence of groundwater contamination, distressed residents (whose well water is discolored and reeks, and whose families have suffered rashes and other ailments) had nowhere else to turn for clean water but their community. That’s when a group of area churches, including the Presbyterian church where my dad is a pastor, joined together to supply jugs and bottles of clean drinking water to affected families.
-There IS a Bicycle Economy, Two Cities Find
-Are electric cars bad for the environment?
-Amsterdam’s New Electric Scooter Program Aims To Improve Transportation Options
-Paralympics show how cycling fits almost any impairment
