Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Kurt Cobb Canada’s increasing reliance on energy exports, especially oil from the Alberta tar sands, risks unsettling its politics and economy and turning the country into a petrostate–an authoritarian society in which dissent is stifled and enterprises beyond the energy sector are de-emphasized or even discouraged.
New York state author, blogger, and homesteader Sharon Astyk discusses her new book, A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil. Astyk sees the energy shortages of peak oil hitting us and our food system now, and she argues that US food security depends on 100 million of us starting to farm in the near future. Four Vermonters also describe part of what they are doing to move Vermont toward much stronger local food systems.
An iCrew Audio Presentation of: Energy Resources and Our Future – A speech by Rear Admiral Hyman G. Rickover delivered to the Minnesota State Medical Association on May 14, 1957. The transcript of the speech was originally posted in 2006. This audio presentation was read and produced on July 24, 2009 by Rick Lakin.
When we talk about energy consumption, all attention goes to the electricity use of a device or a machine while in operation. A 30 watt laptop is considered more energy efficient than a 300 watt refrigerator. This may sound logical, but this kind of comparisons does not make much sense if you don’t also consider the energy that was required to manufacture the devices you compare.
-Personal Responsibility
-Thinking the Unthinkable
-Evaluating Decisions and the Long Term Perspective
-Why Civilisations Collapse
it’s the end of the world as we know it (…and I feel fine) (1)
Probably few saw this meltdown coming. We have come to view human progress as a given, and an ever growing economy and living standard as an entitlement.
In this episode Crop To Cuisine explores several areas that are helping us understand and make decisions about the agricultural landscape. Adam Avery tells us about their team bike ride from Boulder to Durango, and how breweries are doing more than making great beer within their communities. Bill Meyer from the USDA Statistics Service explains the first organic agriculture census. Cindy Torres of the Boulder County Food & Agricultural Policy Council helps us understand the GMO v. Non GMO argument. And Michelle DaPra shares the USDA’s efforts to better understand local food systems.
– California votes down offshore project
– How Can Obama Pay for Healthcare Reform? How about Linking it to a ‘Manhattan Project for Energy Efficiency’?
– Lessons learned from General Motors’ collapse
– Climate Change and the Future of Southern California: Peak Oil and Climate Change Scenarios
– Is the ocean Florida’s untapped energy source?
“This is a way of getting inside the energy system, getting a sense of its possibilities. I’ve been around for a while, and I’ve never seen anything like it.” The speaker is Bob Taylor. After a long corporate career with a pair of big oil companies, he joined Alberta’s Department of Energy’s as assistant deputy minister for oil development. Now retired, in that job he had responsibility for conventional oil, oil sands, land access, and energy and Aboriginal relationships. Today he is excited about something he believes is much bigger than all of these combined.
-Urban Farming ‘Mushrooms’ During Recession
-Season Extension Techniques: Cheap and Dirty Options
-Finding fulfilment through farming
– Oil Customers Will Go Away Before Oil Does
– How reasonable are oil production scenarios from public agencies?
– FACTBOX-Oil production cost estimates by country
– Greenpeace study finds oil companies may be doomed
