Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Kurt Cobb While the pundits analyze the fossil fuel subsidies and nuclear industry giveaways in the energy bill only just signed by President Bush, they miss the overall. From the standpoint of ecology, the primary strategy behind the bill is a simple one: Increase the rate of drawdown in order to shore up a world economic and social system that is suffering gravely from the effects of a global environmental meltdown.
Mauritania: An All Too Familiar Story / Venezuela to Buy Two Tankers, Send Fuel to Argentina / Philipines: Oil prices next Arroyo crisis / US contingency plan for a Venezuela oil cut off / Is Iraq war fueling the GCC’s economic boom? / Foiled Bid Stirs Worry for U.S. Oil / Reserve Judgment In Deal for Unocal, Chevron Gambles On High Oil Prices / I don’t drive; why should I care about oil prices? / China Energy Watch: Foreign Upstream Investors Wanted
Chinese gasoline stations jammed as fuel crisis deepens / Ghana has 350 Million dollar energy funding gap / Indian Official: Assam oil production ‘critical’ / Explosion at BP plant near Alvin comes on heels of Texas City closing / The only way is up for oil prices, but the world will not run out in the near future / Are record oil prices leading to exploitation of oil shales? / Electrical Inefficiency A Dark Spot for China / Shell Canada Oil Sands Expansion Costs Jump 83% / U.S.: Pricier Oil Won’t Send The Economy Into A Skid / More fuel for airlines’ woes
Warming hits ‘tipping point’ – Siberia feels the heat / Stop gassing on climate change and take action / Field tested: Grasslands won’t help buffer climate change as carbon dioxide levels rise / Muckraker: Pact or fiction? – New Asia-Pacific climate pact is long on PR, short on substance / Water rights 101: Analysis / Scorched earth / The Dangers of Climate Change (AUDIO) / We Brake For Efficiency
Past the Peak – How the small town of Willits plans to beat the coming energy crisis / The Peak-Oil Crisis: A Role for the Post Office / What ‘Green’ Means / Beyond an Encyclopedia: What’s Next for Wikimania? / A Roof Garden? It’s Much More Than That / In the Cards – Brits consider radical plan to measure personal emissions / Ask Umbra: Greasing their alms, On subsidies for big oil / New Urbanism: an Online NewsHour Special Report
Kunstler – No Discipline / Introducing ASPO-USA (AUDIO) / Heinberg – Threats of Peak Oil to the Global Food Supply”- (AUDIO) / Open Letter to Senator Schumer / Review of The Long Emergency in American Scientist / The Oil Drum on numeracy / James Hamilton – Limitations of the Hirsch report on peak oil / Rate hike fears as oil prices hit new high
WASHINGTON, DC—President Bush unveiled an aggressive initiative Monday that would make the U.S. free of petroleum dependence by the year 4920, less than three millennia from now. [satirical]
No gain, much pain – When energy bill comes due, we’re going to pay / Cleanpeace: Energy bill speeds nuclear proliferation, stifles competition and threatens national security / Holes in the Energy Law / In new energy crisis, Bush rewards cronies / Energy bill roils port policy / Energy Vacation [animated cartoon] / Passage of energy bill highlights lack of united Democratic opposition / The Energy Bill’s Gift to Terrorists / Highway bill Legislation loaded with money for special projects / Road Bill Reflects the Power of Pork
Voters prefer wind farms to new nuclear reactors / Solar Power is Hot — Too Hot /
Canadian municipalities have path to de-centralize services / If ENN Readers Could Have Written the Energy Bill… / Brasil launches new bio-energy program / Sugar on uncharted course, link to funds, energy / The Spud of Life / Malaysia Bans Open Burning around Kuala Lumpur and Central Selangor State as Haze Worsens / A ‘Gulley of Death’ That Gobbles Up All On Its Way / Roundup Is Killing Off Amphibians, Ecologist Says
With prices exceeding $50 a barrel, the world’s oil habit now costs $4 billion a day. Some experts warn that output will soon peak and prices will reach $100, but nobody really knows for sure (94 percent of reserves are owned by governments, which generally keep the data secret). Fortunately, it doesn’t matter: With cheap oil-saving technologies and alternative fuels already at our disposal, the sooner we get off oil, the sooner we’ll start making bigger profits.
‘Fuelling the Future – the challenge and opportunity of Peak Oil’ was a two day conference held in Kinsale over the weekend of June 18th-19th 2005. DVD and audio features Colin Campbell, Richard Heinberg, Richard Douthwaite, David Holmgren and Rob Hoskins.
Contemporary warfare has traditionally involved underlying conflicts regarding economics and resources. Today these intertwined conflicts also involve international currencies, and thus increased complexity. Current geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran extend beyond the publicly stated concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear intentions, and likely include a proposed Iranian “petroeuro” system for oil trade.
