Energy Policy

Fighting corporate power since 1776

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The original Boston Tea Party, claims liberal talk radio host Thom Hartmann, wasn’t really a protest against higher taxes and unrepresentative government. Instead, its target was the excessive power of a large corporation — the British East India Company. In Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became “People” — and How You Can Fight Back, Hartmann surveys the 250-year tug-of-war between citizens and corporations in the US, charts the ascendancy of today’s plutocratic rule and calls for a movement to take back American democracy. But is it relevant to fighting climate change and preparing for peak oil? You bet it is.

America’s “Holiday from History” – How George Will got it all wrong

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Immediately after 9/11, Washington Post columnist and premier Inside-the-Beltway pundit George Will asserted that America had taken a “Holiday from History” during the previous ten years and that the attacks had brought it to an abrupt end. In reality, by ignoring energy issues Americans took their holiday from history for a much long period, from 1981-2005, and we’re about to pay a very steep price for it.

Review of Bundeswehr Report on peak oil: Section 2.2. Tipping Point (Nov. 2010)

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Oil is often described as ‘the life-blood’ of modern society. It is as vital to our globalized economy as water is to the human body. A reduction in supply of only a few percentages could create difficulties throughout the entire system. Further reductions could lead to a complete failure of critical systems.

Saudi Arabia to produce 10mbd in July?

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When the Saudi oil minister speaks to the world’s business reporters, one cannot rely that his words will later match the kingdom’s official reports to international statistical agencies. Whether through sloppiness or otherwise, at least one of Mr al-Naimi’s statement and the Saudi report were in error to the tune of almost half a million barrels a day — more than five percent of production — at a time when oil markets are critically seeking signals of Saudi intentions and capabilities.

Ask me about my agony and despair!

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Often is the question posed to me, maybe over on my Facebook page or via email after someone has made it through the messier parts of my book, but also in sundry sweaty nightclubs or boutique SF coffeeholes and therefore almost always fully clothed but almost never in a state of calm emotional stability: Mark, how the hell do you do it?

How do you avoid becoming horribly soiled and tainted, downtrodden and depressed every single day by the relentless onslaught, the endless horrors and bleakness hurled forth by the blood-soaked and desperately panicky mainstream media, inside of which you apparently still writhe and (mostly, sporadically, drunkenly) thrive?

Peak? What peak? Greenhouse emissions keep increasing

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Back in the early 2000s, when I was starting to study peak oil, I used to think that oil depletion was our main problem. Climate change seemed to me a threat for the remote future and, probably, automatically solved by the depletion of fossil fuels. Over the years, however, I saw more and more data accumulating that show that it is not so. I am now convinced that climate change is a much more serious threat to humankind than peak oil.

Why doesn’t the UN consider energy depletion?

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In thousands of ways, UN policy helps shape how we respond to emerging crises, from basic poverty to world political events, from food to climate change and population. What is emerging, however, is that UN analyses are increasingly diverging from reality – as they attempt to describe our future, they have failed to adequately (or at all) take into account that most basic of all considerations, material limits on energy resources.