Nations and resources – June 7
-Water shortages ‘could plunge the world into conflict’
-Government review to examine threat of world resources shortage
-Phosphorus and the Oxygen Connection
Staff
From scream to dream: the inspiring influence of Herman Daly
Each fall at one of America’s oldest universities, a substantial portion of the freshman class enrolls in Economics 101 and then proceeds to participate in a bizarre ritual. The night before the first midterm exam, when students should be tucked away in the dusty corners of the library reviewing their supply and demand curves, or perhaps even lying in bed dreaming about their first exam, something quite curious happens.
Peak oil review – June 7
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Deepwater horizon
-Has the EIA admitted to peak oil?
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
New York Times on peak oil … and the problem of history
You learn pretty quickly to adjust for what any mainstream media says about peak oil and anyone who does any kind of preparation.
Media flirting with peak oil following Gulf spill
The ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil disaster is bringing the mainstream media a little closer to the peak oil debate. It’s been out there on the business pages for a while, but it is beginning to make its way into news pages – via comment columns, and in a roundabout way, of course. It’s still at the flirtatious stage, but its beginning.
What next for Industrial Ag? More toxic chemicals?
Agricultural producers are being hit with yet another rising input cost plus a lot of decision making uncertainty surrounding the emergence of superweeds immune to Roundup.
Review: Thriving Beyond Sustainability by Andrés R. Edwards
Given what a sweeping category sustainability is, author and noted sustainability expert Andrés Edwards is to be commended for distilling it down into two easily digestible volumes for lay readers: The Sustainability Revolution and Thriving Beyond Sustainability.
The addict’s excuse
The Gulf of Mexico is currently experiencing the human equivalent of metastasizing cancer, and the governor of Louisiana proposes that the activities which resulted in that cancer be resumed immediately even as BP’s underwater gusher continues to flow into the gulf.
The demise of BP?
As someone who has argued that the U.S. needs to invest in more offshore drilling lest we face oil shortages and increasing dependence on other countries for our energy, I can’t make that argument in light of this sort of disaster. We may need drilling, but we also need our coastlines.
What’s in a word?: The rhetoric surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster
The Obama administration and BP are using increasingly different rhetoric to describe what’s growing, along with the spill, as part of an epic clash of government and industry.
ODAC Newsletter – June 4
As the leaking Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico continues to defy BP’s efforts, the crisis now looks existential for the company. This week the share price collapsed further, and commentary went far beyond the usual concerns over the fate of the chief executive and the dividend. One Clinton era official even suggested taking BP’s US assets into temporary administration…
Urban farms don’t make money – so what?
Over on Earth Island Journal, Sena Christian has an excellent, rigorously reported article about the tough economics of urban farming. She focuses on some of the more famous city farms of the Bay Area, where EIJ is based — City Slicker Farms, People’s Grocery — but she also discusses projects like Milwaukee’s Growing Power. And she finishes the piece with a farm I’d never heard of before: Greensgrow, in Philadelphia.
