Changing the world, one bite at a time
Salone is a rare coming together, an opportunity for the stewards of the world’s food biodiversity, to share and market their wares.
Brian Halweil
Special report: The great shale gas rush (excerpts)
The prospect of abundant, cheap natural gas in the United States—especially gas that’s easily delivered by pipeline to the populous East Coast—profoundly shakes up that energy equation.
The peak oil crisis: the midterms
In a perfect world, such a drastic shift in our economic and societal prospects [as is represented by peak oil] would be at the top of the political agenda. Elections would be fought over the best way to transition our economy and civilization to surviving with reduced and much more expensive energy
Peak oil notes – October 28
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
-Alaska
Shale gas—Abundance or mirage? Why the Marcellus Shale will disappoint expectations
Shale gas plays in the United States are commercial failures and shareholders in public exploration and production (E&P) companies are the losers. This conclusion falls out of a detailed evaluation of shale-dominated company financial statements and individual well decline curve analyses.
The China Syndrome Part One: Naresh Giangrande visits Taiwan
The only flicker of enthusiasm that I got when I presented to a group invited by Saphon Wang in Kaohsiung – (who is a general manager of a local law firm) was when I re framed climate change and peak oil as both risks but more importantly opportunities. I quoted that well worn observation that the word crisis in Chinese is comprised of two characters- danger and opportunity.
Hard times ahead – Oct 27
– Coming Soon to America: Big Push for Austerity
– French Lessons for U.S. Workers
– The Tory ‘big society’ relies on women replacing welfare
– Monbiot: For the Conservatives, this is not a financial crisis but a long-awaited opportunity
– Mapping Global Wealth
A Tale From Portugal, and one from home
I have been astonished to learn as I visited more than 100 transition initiatives over the past 6 months, that nearly all of us are off comers, and with this somewhat dubious title actually seem to breathe fresh life into the communities we have chosen to live in, perhaps for this very reason, delving deeply into the roots of our cherished new homes, and bringing them up for fresh examination in a way that those well established in an area have perhaps become so accustomed to that the value is no longer recognised.
Review of Ben Parfitt’s Fracture Lines (report)
A Canadian study of shale gas fracking and its impact on water quality was released earlier this month. Entitled Fracture Lines: Will Canada’s Water be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas?, the study was conducted by Ben Parfitt…He argues that when the low net energy/EROEI from shale gas is coupled with environmental concerns such as carbon emissions and water problems, shale gas looks less and less like the sure-fire“bridge to a cleaner energy future” claimed by its proponents.
Worlds collide at Cancun climate talks
Two worlds will collide in Cancun, but they share a single planet. If the world that defends our current model of production and consumption prevails, the planet will edge ever closer to catastrophe. The second world offers hope of a new path. Its solutions are multiple and small-scale, and require political will more than massive resources or new technologies. This second world seeks a new balance in our lives between our environment, our food systems, and our jobs.
Highlights from seventh Advances in Energy Studies Conference in Barcelona
Last week, I participated (as an invited speaker) in the 7th Advances in Energy Studies Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Other invited speakers were Charlie Hall, Joe Tainter, Marcel Collel, and Seth Blumsack. Other Oil Drum staff members at the conference were Ugo Bardi and Dave Murphy–Ugo as one of the speakers, and Dave as the second author on Charlie Hall’s presentation. Dave also asked lots of good questions! In this post, I give a few highlights of the conference.
Peak oil — Where do we stand?
The queston thus becomes: did world conventional oil production peak in mid-2008 or are we looking at a local maxima (high point) in production that may be surpassed in the future? To answer this question, we must first understand what this production graph is telling us.
