D. Ray Long

Socio-economic paradigm shift is ahead: Interview with Nathan Hagens, ASPO-Vienna 2012

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The current period can be undoubtedly characterized as an economical, ecological, cultural, political, but also moral crisis. The solution seems to be as far off as ever and problems seem to be getting worse by the day everywhere. Why is that, what can we expect in the future and what are the safe outcomes from this future bottleneck? We have been talking to Nathan Hagens at the latest ASPO conference in Vienna…

Stuffed and Starved round two: Raj Patel talks to Jonny Gordon-Farleigh about our crazy global food system

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With the announcement of the surprising and remarkable fact that the obese now outnumber the hungry — both forms of malnourishment — we need to be looking deeper into our food system and the industry that has created a world that is stuffed and starved. In his recent books Raj Patel looks at this open secret and the battle between an increasingly aggressive industry and the social movements who are responding to this assault by reclaiming food sovereignty for their communities.

Natural gas liquids

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According to the Energy Information Administration, in March the United States produced a “total oil supply” of 10.8 million barrels per day, which was 2.1 mb/d more than in January 2005. But if you just rely on those aggregate numbers, you’ll miss some very important trends.

Peak Denial

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Evidently growing public concern about the inevitable decline in world oil production has rankled some powerful people, who’ve been knotting their ropes in search of a bit of favorable data to use as the pretext for a public lynching…The Peak Oil debate is not a sporting event. What matters is not which side wins, but what reality awaits us.

Symbolic culture clash at the end of empire

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The painting represents the tensions between agrarian and urban society that has occurred over and over in civilizations throughout history, as we pulse up into civilizations that later fail. Bruegel’s good plowman, sensible sailors, shepherd, and fishermen in the painting above are symbolic of a culture that harnesses earth, wind, and sun to live within the restraints of nature, in contrast to foolish, ambitious Icarus. Early scholars associated Icarus with urban technologies of “kingdoms doomed to fall.” What symbolic culture will represent us as empire wanes?

To change the global economy, start by changing the Olympics

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What if we paired two nations as a unified team for each cycle of the summer and winter Games? Instead of Team USA, we could have Team Zimbabwe and USA (or Team Zimbusa). The teams in all sports, from gymnastics to skiing to water polo would consist of a mix of Zimbabwean and American athletes. Think of how much more knowledge and understanding would be shared between Zimbabweans and Americans…it’s enough to reduce Al Michaels to tears of joy!

Transition Essentials: No.1 – Food

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So here’s something we’ll try, and see if you find it useful. I was in Clitheroe recently in Lancashire, and chatted with a couple of people involved in Transition Clitheroe. I asked them what else Transition Network could do to support their work, were there materials we could produce that would help them? They said that in fact Transition Network put out so much stuff that they struggled to keep up with it, and that perhaps some kind of a digest would be useful….So I thought I would try today to do a digest of the key films, articles, projects and links out there, and see what you think of it and what’s missing. I thought we’d start with food…

Pincushion America: The irretrievable legacy of drilling everywhere on drinking water

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Since 1949 the United States has had more than 2.6 million oil and natural gas wells drilled into its surface. Many more wells have gone uncounted since they were drilled before comprehensive records were kept. Add to that some 680,000 waste injection wells of which more than 150,000 inject industrial wastes, some of it considered hazardous. And, this may not be the full count since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admits that records are inadequate on the largest class of injection wells which it says “in general…inject non-hazardous fluids into or above [U.S. drinking water].” The “in general” part is not terribly reassuring.

A new energy report from Harvard makes unsupportable assumptions

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There is no evidence from the top three oil producers (Saudia Arabia, Russia and the U.S) that their production will be even close, in total, to current levels by the end of the decade.

Now there comes an Energy Study from Harvard which boldly states that this is rubbish – that by 2020, global production will be at 110.6 mbd and these concerns that most of us have at The Oil Drum (inter alia) are chimeras of the imagination.

It is therefore pertinent to begin with examining where the study (which was prepared with BP assistance) anticipates that the growth in supply will come from.

Deep thought – July 1

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– Kunstler’s new book: ‘Too Much Magic & Wishful Thinking’
– El tercer principio ético de la permacultura
– The Spiritual Crisis of Capitalism: What would the Buddha do? (Marx and the Dalai Lama)
– The Emerging Left in the ‘Emerging’ World (Democracy, nature and a smaller scale)
– Collapse Fatigue: Prevention And Treatment