Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Staff – WikiLeaks cables: Dalai Lama called for focus on climate, not politics, in Tibet
– Desertification is greatest threat to planet, expert warns
– Fox News chief enforced climate change scepticism – leaked email
– Graphics: who’s emitting?
– Climate Clash in Cancún (China vs US)
– Naomi Klein’s TED Talk: On Precaution (and climate change)
How do ‘developing’ countries prioritise energy goals? How should they in the face of climate change? These countries, with per capita energy consumption and CO2 emissions which average one-sixth those of the ‘industrialised’ world, are not primarily responsible for climate deterioration, but on the other hand they are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts because, says the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) they have fewer resources to adapt – socially, technologically and financially.
For the majority of the populations in these countries climate change issue is not a priority concern compared with problems of poverty, natural resource management, energy and livelihood needs.
– We Don’t Talk About That Kind of Thing Around Here (Transition and spirituality)
– Transition, Deep Transition and Solagaia in Maine, Colorado, California and Beyond
– The unrevolution
– Kurt Cobb’s Peak Oil” novel – radio interview
“If I plant a garden and all my neighbors are starving, I’ll have to share it with them and it’s not going to go very far,” says Gail Tverberg, known to readers of the Oil Drum as Gail the Actuary. “You have to solve the problem for the whole population.”
Maybe that’s why Tverberg thinks that people who care about peak oil need to reach out beyond energy buffs to a larger public
Political reality is hard to change, harder than ever since the Supreme Court delivered its Citizens United decision and loosed floods of more money into our political world. But physics and chemistry are downright impossible to shift. Physics and chemistry don’t bargain. So the president, and all the rest of us, had really better try a little harder.
“…we don’t know when exactly the oil is going to start peaking and production is going to start running down, but…we don’t as a nation want to be putting ourselves in hock…to these sorts of markets…” So said UK Energy Minister Chris Huhne speaking on Radio 4’s Today Programme on Thursday. ODAC believes that this is the first time a UK energy minister has actually acknowledged peak oil as a factor driving policy. While the statement remains vague on timing, this is nonetheless a very welcome shift.
– With Peak Oil Looming, Gulf States Consider Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies
– Coal Interests Fueling Gingrich’s Cash-Burning 527
– When energy comes to a Senegalese village, do people get more healthy, wealthy and wise?
– Poor people’s energy outlook 2010
In the famous Hans Christian Anderson fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes, a weaver famously plays on an emperor’s arrogance and persuades him to wear a non-existent suit with the argument that it is only invisible to the ‘hopelessly stupid.’ The moment of truth comes, as we can all remember, when a child in an otherwise silent crowd yells out, “But he is not wearing any clothes!” What we don’t always recall is that the naked Emperor suspects the child may be telling the truth, but carries on marching proudly and unclothed regardless.
It is easy to become befuddled by the current discourse on peak oil. Peak oil is defined generally as the point at which the flow rate of oil to society has reached a maximum. But this simple definition has issues too, such as what should be considered “oil.” Take, for example, the following sentences from the executive summary of the International Energy Agency’s recent publication of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2010[1]…According to this data, a peak in the production of conventional crude oil occurred in 2006, but a peak in total “oil” production (including unconventional resources such as tar sands, natural gas liquids, etc.) may not occur for some time. So, should we consider this a confirmation of peak oil or not?
After three days, the group articulated a powerful and unifying mission: “For the Great Lakes watershed to be declared and lived as a commons, public trust and protected bioregion”
– The Accidental Orchardists
– Gene Logsdon: Fertilizer prices putting manure in the limelight
– Rosie Boycott: The crucial role cities can play in protecting the honeybee
– Australia: Renewing our focus on food
– Wild Permaculture Forest Gardening on the BBC (Video)
– Steve LeVine: Big Oil’s big optimism
– If efficiency hasn’t cut energy use, then what?
– U.S. Called Vulnerable to Rare Earth Shortages
