Consumption & Demand

ODAC Newsletter – May 27

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There was a step forward this week for recognition of peak oil in the UK political agenda. Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has agreed that the Department for Energy and Climate Change and ITPOES (UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security) should work more closely together on peak-oil threat assessment and contingency planning.

Holiday embrace, holiday revolt

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The capitalist-saturated American culture gives way to holidays only begrudgingly. Under corporate dominance, Americans vacation and take time off from work very little compared to the rest of the industrialized world. When we do have a holiday, it’s equally steeped in the capitalist ethos, with garish sales loudly urging us to consume, gorge and grab ACT NOW deals. But it’s exactly this paradigm that’s pitched growth to an unsustainable end and set us adrift intellectually and culturally. This Memorial Day reject the buying and spending frenzy. Reject the go, go, go mentality. Embrace instead a process of renewal, relaxation, connection. Take that precious day off, that lovely three-day weekend as an invitation to your higher self, guilt not necessary.

Cancer now leading cause of death in China

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Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China. Chinese Ministry of Health data implicate cancer in close to a quarter of all deaths countrywide. As is common with many countries as they industrialize, the usual plagues of poverty–infectious diseases and high infant mortality–have given way to diseases more often associated with affluence, such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

UK Government to work with business on plans to tackle peak oil threat

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Business leaders today welcomed a commitment by the Government to work with the private sector on contingency plans to protect the UK and its economy from the growing risk of rising oil prices. It follows a meeting between Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and representatives from the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES). During the meeting, the Secretary of State agreed that the Department for Energy and Climate Change and ITPOES should work more closely together on peak-oil threat assessment and contingency planning.

A fashion for austerity

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The recent flurry of media stories about last weekend’s failed prophecy of the Rapture — think of it as a dry run for 2012 — raises several points relevant to the peak oil movement as the end of the age of cheap energy starts to catch the attention of the mainstream. The most intriguing is the possibility — dismissed by a great many peak oil writers just now, but by no means impossible — that the movement toward radically less energy use that’s so desperately needed in the industrial world right now might actually become a popular fad. Could that actually happen, and if it did, what might the implications be?

The case for a disorderly energy descent

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The energy descent from peak oil production imposes decades of contraction in the global economy. An orderly contraction, particularly in the US, is not likely for a number of reasons. The decline of the oil civilization is a phenomenon and spectacle of such complexity that understanding it requires a systems perspective. This summary of the case for a disorderly contraction and its core drivers demonstrates the capacity of systems tools to show the interlocking feedback structure that shapes how this momentous change plays out over time.

‘The Ecological Rift’: a radical response to capitalism’s war on the planet (book review)

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John Bellamy Foster’s book focuses on a sustained critique of the mainstream ecological theories, solutions and proposals that do not address the root cause of the dilemma, and that do not deeply investigate why the ecological crisis has reached such dire proportions. A big issue for those concerned with climate change and other environmental ills is to get a better understanding of the capitalist system, who benefits most from it and how it works to undermine stable ecosystems.

Fracking myths and climate capitalism

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Worried about high oil prices and exploding nuclear plants? Carry on shoppers, because we’ve found gold right under our feet – a bonanza of natural gas. Yes, fracking will fill your tank, heat your house, and light up the streets for another 100 years. At least that’s what we’ve been told. A new report out from the Post Carbon Institute pokes a sharp pin in the natural gas bubble. We’ll hear from energy analyst David Hughes.