Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Steve Andrews “The only guy in this administration who is apparently steeped in concern about supply is General James Jones, National Security Advisor. As smart as those guys appear to be, I don’t think that any one of them is about to have the epiphany that—as serious as climate change might be—if we have a supply collapse, the game’s over.”
For a wide range of not-always-consistent reasons, people in Sandpoint decided that Transition could help them build the world they wanted. And now, only because enough people stepped forward and made that decision, Transition actually looked like a good tool for the job. They were picking it up by whatever handle they grasped. They were swinging it as earnestly as they could. (excerpts from an excellent article on the Transition Movement)
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Production and prices
-Off-shore drilling
-EPA
-Briefs
This paper investigates the link between population growth, energy resources and carrying capacity at a global level, to determine if there might be dependencies and if so, how they could be modelled. Different qualities of energy resources may interact differently with population growth. Finally the implications of a peak in energy resource availability on population growth are examined.
Newsweek’s cover declares that we shall have ”Cheap Oil Forever”. As I began to read the article I was struck by the thought, ”I have heard this before” and a memory of the cover of the Economist from March 1999 with the headline, ”Drowning in Oil” forced its way into my consciousness.
Persuasive design for sustainability
Virtually virtuous (sustainable “Second Life”)
Spam’s noxious carbon footprint
The Ecologist magazine drops print
Reflections on Herbert Schiller’s The Mind Managers (1973)
TOD: Energy-conscious cuisine
Toronto exhibit highlights city dwellers growing own food
Beauty and the vegetable (insane EU regulations)
Organic White House garden puts some conventional panties in a twist
A shopping mall becomes a city
Australia: Urban sprawl is killing us, but there’s another way
20-minute neighborhoods
Ecocities Emerging newsletter
Future proofing our homes and buildings
Efficient drivers cut emissions, but stir up hot air
Status symbol of The Great Downtown: Dutch bikes
Couple making downtown freight deliveries by bike
$1.7 billion Brisbane airport expansion deferred as tourist numbers fall
1) Don’t invest in something that could become a stranded asset 2) Focus on strategies that reduce emissions and oil constraints 3) Have the highest energy productivity 4) Keep radical options open
Sunday Times: Review of Holmgren’s Future Scenarios
Peggy Noonan: Goodbye bland affluence
Carolyn Baker: Economic recovery? No thank you
Drastic Energy contraction ahead
New book from Michael Ruppert: A Presidential Energy Policy
As it becomes impractical or impossible to provide massive federal aid to states on a continuous basis, the necessity to find local solutions to a persistent crisis may become more acute. For this reason an ongoing economic slump may end up feeding continued calls for secession as well as create receptivity to genuinely useful relocalization efforts.
