The death of Osama bin Laden and the threat of peak oil
With the death of Osama bin Laden, can America now face threats to our future more dangerous than Al Qaeda — peak oil and climate change?
Erik Curren
Energy and the U.S. – May 1
– Obama Again Calls for an End to Tax Breaks for Oil Companies
– Chris Martenson on Business News Network
– Robert Reich: The oil company gusher
– The Oil War at Home
The ghost of ASPO-9: climate change
The first morning of the 9th ASPO conference in Brussels had a good presentation of what we know today about climate change. But the IPCC vision is not the same as that of ASPO and the contrast flared during the panel discussion, when Kjell Aleklett, president of ASPO, accused van Ypersele and IPCC of following a “business as usual” approach. Having neglected peak oil (and peak fuels) in their scenarios, Aleklett said, the IPCC was presenting unrealistic and excessively pessimistic predictions of global warming.
Happiness, simplicity and apocalypse – May 1
– Happiness theory at center stage in Soros economic conference
– The ‘I’m-happy-I’m-green’ consensus won’t placate our lust for novelty
– Simplicity Institute report shows that less can be more
– Prophets of the Environmental Apocalypse
– Venezuela Comes Sixth in Gallup “Wellbeing” Survey
Climate – April 30
– Science: Watching Climate Change Through a Farmer’s Eyes
– The Banksters and the Climate Fund
– The culture and discourse of climate skepticism
– Why I’ve avoided commenting on Nisbet’s ‘Climate Shift’ report
Energy – April 30
– Deep Oil From Diamonds? Maybe, Says A New Report
– Romney blames high prices on insufficient supply
– Nuclear waste: Keep out – for 100,000 years
– Former nuclear safety official says Swiss plant should be shut down
I, Consumer?
Where have all the people gone? Not to mention the citizenry, human beings, neighbors, inhabitants, individuals, men, women, adults, children, workers, employees, employers? Suddenly, everywhere, gone, all of them. Their places taken by consumers.
A surprise: China’s energy consumption will stabilize
According a new study by Berkeley Lab’s China Energy Group, the steeply rising curve of energy demand in China will begin to moderate between 2030 and 2035 and flatten thereafter. There will come a time—within the next two decades—when the number of people in China acquiring cars, larger homes, and other accouterments of industrialized societies will peak.
Australia’s peak oil broadcast – April 30
Finally the day has come when the Catalyst science programme on the Australian TV-channel ABC has broadcast its 12 minute long “Oil Crunch” segment on peak oil.
– SMH: Peak oil highlights need for a unified policy
– Comments from Kjell Aleklett (ASPO-International)
World – April 30
– Europeans shift long-held view that social benefits are untouchable
– Europe’s Nationalists Waiting in the Dark
– Chomsky on Iraq, corporations and financialization of the economy
– McCarthyism in Manama? (Bahrain)
Chinese inflation and next recession musings
We are in an era where the availability of natural resources is not sufficient to support the wealth levels that the developed world has grown accustomed to, along with the speed of growth with which the developing world is trying to approach those same levels.
ODAC Newsletter – Apr 29
Rising petrol prices and huge oil company profits combined to put pressure on President Obama this week. Prices are reaching around $4.00/gallon, levels not seen since 2008 and a psychological barrier for many Americans whose entire infrastructure is designed around the motor car.
