Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
“If I plant a garden and all my neighbors are starving, I’ll have to share it with them and it’s not going to go very far,” says Gail Tverberg, known to readers of the Oil Drum as Gail the Actuary. “You have to solve the problem for the whole population.”
Maybe that’s why Tverberg thinks that people who care about peak oil need to reach out beyond energy buffs to a larger public
– We Don’t Talk About That Kind of Thing Around Here (Transition and spirituality)
– Transition, Deep Transition and Solagaia in Maine, Colorado, California and Beyond
– The unrevolution
– Kurt Cobb’s Peak Oil” novel – radio interview
How do ‘developing’ countries prioritise energy goals? How should they in the face of climate change? These countries, with per capita energy consumption and CO2 emissions which average one-sixth those of the ‘industrialised’ world, are not primarily responsible for climate deterioration, but on the other hand they are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts because, says the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) they have fewer resources to adapt – socially, technologically and financially.
For the majority of the populations in these countries climate change issue is not a priority concern compared with problems of poverty, natural resource management, energy and livelihood needs.
Are you planning to “build community” next year to help your community face the problems of economic downturn and energy decline? Here’s a simple, time-efficient, way to start: take advantage of your existing neighborhood newsletter to promote your ideas.
Is a BTU today worth more or less than a BTU ten years from now? It’s seemingly an easy question. A BTU will heat one pound of water one degree whether its 2010, 2020, or 2100. And, in a world of entropy where the easiest and best quality energy sources (generally) get used up first, one unit of energy should increase in value over time, as its ability to accomplish work becomes more valuable to society as time progresses. However this is solely a physical perspective, one that ignores biology of time preference. Once humans with finite lifespans and cultures with sunk costs enter the picture, a BTU today, behaviorally, becomes worth more than one in the future.
I haven’t done this for a while, so I thought it might be good to do a round up of some of the more influential and inspirational books that have passed across my bedside table over the last 6 months. In terms of books you might choose to offer people over the next few weeks’ festive period, there is of course no beating the ever-expanding Transition Books series (still time to order before Christmas), but here is a collection of 13 titles to inform, inspire, fascinate, entertain and enlighten (also please note the Amazon-free nature of the links provided…). Any books you’d like to recommend?
As peak oil moves toward the mainstream, some parts of the peak oil movement have begun to embrace respectability in order to engage political and economic institutions. This is essential, though it has its pitfalls; still, just as essential is a balancing movement in the other direction, toward a radically diverse exploration of options that could provide individuals and communities with critical tools as the crisis of industrial society deepens around us.
Both of these outcomes (the peak and decline of coal production within a few decades, or 4°C of surface warming) would be an unmitigated disaster for human civilization. There’s no doubt about it. Running low on coal would be great for the climate, but would blow up human economies. If we have more coal than we know what to do with, we would blow-up the climate but the coal would help sustain human economies, absent a miraculous breakthrough in renewable energy.
For many decades, America’s global leadership success has been attributed to its robust and rigorous public higher education system. The business model upon which U.S. public higher education is built has rendered it unaffordable to students, and it is in fragile fiscal health. There is little accountability. This article discusses that transition and offers a solution: an online education environment that capitalizes on the power of digital technologies, rich content, open learning systems, and the sharing of capabilities across campus boundaries to engage students already comfortable with online interactivity.
In India, 72 percent of women are involved in agriculture. But often, these small-scale farmers confront numerous economic barriers, including lack of access to training, markets and productive inputs. In a society where gender biases are deeply ingrained, women farmers also lack access to bank accounts and land tenure. And, women are also underrepresented in farmers groups and associations, making it harder for their voices to be heard.
More than a decade has passed since the first tentative email lists and conversations that launched the peak oil movement. During the years since, a central theme of nearly all factions of that movement has been the goal of inserting peak oil into the collective conversations of our time. The IEA’s awkward admission that the peak has already passed may just mark the arrival of the final stage in the struggle to make that happen. At this point, a new and even more challenging question emerges: now that we’ve won, what next?
Considering climate change, Copenhagen, Cochabamba, the coming calamity, and most controversial: capitalism.
