Education

Earth as a magic pudding

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Cornucopians – those who believe the Earth’s resources are boundless – have a clever mental trick to avoid acknowledging that the planet is finite. It is commonly called the “resource pyramid”. … As resources begin to become scarce their price rises. The higher price now makes it economically viable to extract the substance from a less accessible and/or less concentrated source. Amazingly, the total amount of the substance present in this lower-grade resource is greater than in the original, most concentrated resource. … The resource pyramid idea contains a hidden assumption – that energy is cheap and abundant. In fact, it is the price of energy that ultimately determines the base of the resource pyramid.

Peak oil focus of Michigan conference in November

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Over 30 speakers including Richard Heinberg, Ellen Hodgson Brown, Albert Bates, Stephanie Mills, Kurt Cobb, Richard Gilbert, John Richter, Tim Hudson, Bill Wilson, Tony Earley, Jerry Norcia, Paul Murray and Aaron Wissner explore the challenges and possibilities for Michigan’s future at a three day solution oriented conference in November.

Deep thought – Oct 5

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Worldchanging and the American future
Nashville’s gas crisis: inside the Metro bunker? (satire)
Receding horizons for alternative energy supplies
Richard Leakey: the end of the world as we know it
The slow erosion of heart and soul
Implications of fossil fuel constraints on economic growth and global warming

On the edge of the abyss

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The backdrop of a financial crash on Wall Street cast a shadow over this year’s Association for the Study of Peak Oil – USA conference in Sacramento in late September. Speakers talked of an ominous parallel between the financial crisis and another graver crisis in the making – the coming rapid decline of worldwide oil production, which has stalled after reaching an all-time high more than three years ago.

How to create change In your community: finding or forming a local group

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When we live locally and strengthen our communities, we become stronger and better able to adapt to changes in the economy, climate, and energy availability. But we discuss much about how to go about this. So… how do you create change in your community? And how do you form a group of people who can tackle these community needs?

Review: Depletion and Abundance by Sharon Astyk

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Why are so few peak oil authors women? There’s been much debate about this, and no one has yet arrived at a definitive answer. But whatever the reason, Sharon Astyk has established herself as a true rarity within the peak oil community by virtue of being a woman who has chosen to write about peak oil. The perspective that she offers is thus both uncommon and vital.