Consumption & Demand

Review: A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

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User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization shows how our major crises share the same root causes and thus can be solved only by taking into account their complex interactions. Ahmed acknowledges that in this age of specialization it’s understandable for issues like climate change and oil depletion to be studied and discussed separately—indeed, he observes that this mode of inquiry into the causes of specific phenomena has enabled many of our greatest scientific advances. But it’s also, he argues, beginning to seem like an increasingly antiquated method, preventing experts from seeing the whole picture and the public from receiving consistent information.

Debunking the ‘shale gale’

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The implications of the Hughes report are disturbing. Without dramatic reductions in consumption of fossil fuels from outright conservation to energy efficiency (he strongly recommends more co-generation and targeting fuels to their highest-value applications), the rapid exploitation of shale gas will only confirm Eric Sevareid’s law: “the chief cause of problems are solutions.”

Peak coal this year?

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“The most important conclusion of this paper is that the peak of global coal production from the existing coalfields is imminent, and coal production from these areas will fall by 50% in the next 40 years. The CO2 emissions from burning this coal will also decline by 50%. Thus, current focus on carbon capture and geological sequestration may be misplaced. Instead, the global community should be devoting its attention to conservation and increasing efficiency of electrical power generation from coal.”

Will Natural Gas Fuel America in the 21st Century? – Foreword to new report

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A detailed new energy report argues that the natural gas industry has propagated dangerously false claims about natural gas production supply, cost and environmental impact. The report, "Will Natural Gas Fuel America in the 21st Century" is authored by leading geoscientist and Post Carbon Institute Fellow J. David Hughes.

Midday with Dan Rodricks Power Ahead: Coal

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Hour two, on day two, of Midday’s special series Power Ahead continues looking at fossil fuels. The focus of this hour is coal. Our guests this hour are Richard Heinberg, author and senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute., Don Shields, executive director, Center for Energy, University of Pittsburgh, Roger Bezdek, clean coal and energy security advocate and Mike Moore, president, Maryland Coal Association.

Fleeing Vesuvius: The psychological roots of resource over-consumption

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Humans have an innate need for status and for novelty in their lives. Unfortunately, the modern world has adopted very energy- and resource-intensive ways of meeting those needs. Other ways are going to have to be found as part of the move to a more sustainable world.

Hair Shirts, Hypocrisy, and Wilkins Micawber

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These days, the idea that using less energy and resources might be a viable and indeed a necessary part of navigating the crisis of industrial society too often runs afoul of the hangover of America’s Puritan heritage; too often, that concept has been wielded in the service of fashionable hypocrisy, or turned into an ostentatious display of hair-shirt asceticism. Still, approached in the right way, using less — or, more exactly, using L.E.S.S. — is a crucial step in the direction of sustainability. With the help of W.C. Fields, the Archdruid explains.

Public resources, private resources

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I’ve met a lot of people who lived all or much of their lives with very little power, and seen their homes, and I have ample visual evidence that often life can be quite graciously lived with little or no gas, electricity, and other inputs. The critical difference between a life lived graciously with little, and one without is the realm of how resources – whether land or fossil fuels or whatever – are used collectively. Thus, I’d like to propose what I think is an important and useful distinction – between public use of energy and resources and private use of energy resources. The former, I would argue, is essential to maintaining a good life, the latter is not.