Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
TOD blockbuster: “Powering civilization to 2050” by Stuart Staniford
Will peak oil drive relocalization?
Investment guru Jim Rogers: $90 to $100 oil not high enough to slow demand
Barclays Capital: Triple digit oil price regardless of peak
A university near where I live plans to add a short unit on “Petroleum and Peak Oil” to their Science 1101 course for freshman who are not science majors. The university asked me to prepare materials for the unit. (Draft)
Farmers, plan ahead to avoid fertilizer shortages
Rethinking the meat-guzzler
A dying breed (animal breeds)
Astyk: How big is a farm? Who is a farmer?
Cuban permaculturalist to tour Australia
Vinod Khosla: Biomass I, II and III
Der Spiegel: Critique mounts against biofuels
Eco-Farm: Eric Schlosser on Florida pickers and fair wages
Gates hopes his money can help poorest farmers
Canada: Faraway food production
Mendocino renegade
Humans have pushed planet into a new geological era
AGU: Climate ‘clearly out of balance’
Greenhouse ocean may downsize fish
More bad news for ethanol – UC researchers say it could be twice as bad as gasoline in terms of emissions
Biofuel production may worsen water, food problems in Asia : study
Lester Brown: Ethanol production will drive food prices higher
I look at the empty countryside around our farm and can’t help but wish it were as thick with people as when my grandparents made a living here.
Since the end of World War II, the private gasoline-powered automobile has become the center of life in America. There are few other cultures in the world today that are not trying to emulate America as soon as their economic circumstances permit.
Congress expects cellulosic ethanol to fulfill the renewable fuels requirement. Catering to an uninformed public, our politicians have laid out a road map for failure. Cellulosic ethanol is not a silver bullet that solves America’s oil dependency.
It was fascinating to see the enthusiasm among the farmers for a more localised approach to farming. Perhaps the National Farmer’s Union should be figuring out how it can best support their wish to create and sustain local markets rather than continuing to focus on an approach whose benefits to the climate are questionable at best, and which at worst, would continue the erosion of soil, resilience and the local economies we will become increasingly dependent upon.
Sharon Astyk: Is relocalization doomed?: a response to Stuart Staniford
Mexico’s crude oil production fell 5.3% in 07
$100 oil – futurist revisits predictions
Is PO good news or bad for hydro and seismic operators?
The end of cheap oil: Are you ready, supply chain managers?
