Japan vows to protect gas field from China
Japan says it will protect its offshore energy resources after its navy spotted two Chinese destroyers near a disputed gas field in the East China Sea.
Culture & Behavior
Hundreds of protesters clash with police in Nepal
Hundreds of demonstrators stoned government vehicles, blocked traffic and battled riot police in the Nepalese capital Tuesday to protest the increase in fuel prices by the government.
The Neurobiology of Mass Delusion
Because the scientists are challenging fundamental assumptions of our culture, such as the basis for “progress” and the consequences of “economic growth,” many cannot agree with the scientists without losing their identity. This threat to the mental model is simply too great to accept.
Energy and Human Evolution
Life on Earth is driven by energy. Autotrophs take it from solar radiation and heterotrophs take it from autotrophs. Energy captured slowly by photosynthesis is stored up, and as denser reservoirs of energy have come into being over the course of Earth’s history, heterotrophs that could use more energy evolved to exploit them, Homo sapiens is such a heterotroph; indeed, the ability to use energy extrasomatically (outside the body) enables human beings to use far more energy than any other heterotroph that has ever evolved.
Talk of oil decline moving into mainstream
Until about five months ago, Mel Hutto had never heard of “peak oil,” the belief that global oil production will decline and never return to the levels that have nourished American lifestyles.
Disasters waiting to happen
The tsunami may have been an act of nature, but further environmental catastrophes caused by humans will be much worse.
How to succeed in history: Societies don’t die by accident – they commit ecological suicide
Why did once flourishing societies collapse and disappear? Jared Diamond, a Pulitzer Prize-winning geographer at UCLA, has spent much of his career wrestling with this profound question.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
The lesson of “Collapse” is that societies, as often as not, aren’t murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death. (Review of Jared Diamond’s new book.)
On the Beach
Where do people get the idea that Las Vegas is America’s city of the future?
Urban vs. Rural Sustainability
Cities may survive peak oil better than rural areas. A personal account.
A Midwinter’s Nightmare
A Peak Oil Nightmare
Energy Prices Not Spurring Conservation
While soaring oil prices in the 1970s prompted major advances in the nation’s energy efficiency, this year’s surge in fuel costs has so far not sparked a new wave of conservation.
