Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Staff Oil prices were buffeted this week by escalating violence in Libya and fear of further disruption in the Middle East on the one hand, and a new debt crisis in the Eurozone threatening further economic turmoil on the other. In Libya this week the Gaddafi regime has launched a full scale military offensive against the rebels and appeared on Thursday to be gaining the upper hand.
That is a much bigger project even that conversion to small farms and agro-ecology. That requires that we care about other people enough to make changes and sacrifices, that we take the right to food seriously.
Localism, as has been discussed here in the past, is the idea that central government should be made smaller for ideological reasons, and that power is dispersed to local councils and communities instead. While in some areas of life this is really important, and key for a successful Transition, in terms of climate change, it is a disaster.
NASA climatologist James Hansen’s book, just out in paperback, is a fascinating look at his crusade to get America a rational climate policy before it’s too late. He wants to levy a carbon tax, entirely phase out coal and leave unconventional fossil fuels in the ground. But he also likes nuclear power. Reactor meltdown on Hansen Island?
In addition to water, people need food for their very existence. Thus food is also essential to economic growth.
If we aren’t living in an “educable moment,” then we must be dumber than a doggone boot. Financial collapse, fiscal crisis, skyrocketing gas prices, global warming, revolutions in crowded countries, unemployment all around… let’s graduate from the College of the 21st Century and recognize the old kindergarten lessons about limits to growth were right after all.
In recent months, several conservative governors have rejected federal funds to begin constructing high-speed rail lines in their states. But such ideologically driven actions are folly, as other U.S. states and countries around the world are moving swiftly to embrace a technology that is essential for competitive 21st-century economies.
Being more efficient in using resources means that we are able to create more complex structures that use those resources faster. It is the so called “Jevons paradox” in its strongest form.
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
One could argue that the principles common in addiction recovery hold much wisdom for a transition process. To truly “recover” from an addiction one must go through the transition of recognizing first that one’s way of life is not working—the compulsion with the behavior or substance is getting in the way of one’s relationships, health, future well-being, and growth. In other words, one recognizes their desire to consume is insatiable and destructive, and a change is needed.
– Don’t sweat the oil speculators
– Saudi Arabia protests could be calamitous for oil market
– FT: Oil markets brace for Saudi ‘rage’ as global spare capacity wears thin
– The secret group setting the price of oil: Us (energy traders)
– Tverberg: If Oil Supply Declines Quickly, How do We Deal with It?
– Oil Roller Coaster Gets Wilder (PO with a local slant)
– The unusual uses of urine
– NYT on Peak Coffee: Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices
– Decline of Honey Bees Now a Global Phenomenon, says UN
– US farmers fear the return of the Dust Bowl
– The world food crisis” the squeeze on purchasing power
