A sense of home and a sense of place
Louisiana leaders have not only been voicing the anger and frustration of their constituents over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but late last week they began to mourn the place they call home.
Fossil Fuels
Three Chinese curses
I’m writing a book about the dire nature of our predicaments and I mention the high likelihood of a global economic collapse within a decade or so. The naturalist doesn’t bat an eye before responding: “I hope I’m around to see it. I don’t want my son to have all the fun.”
ODAC Newsletter – May 28
Good and bad news from the Gulf of Mexico. Operation ‘top kill’ appears to be holding the hydrocarbons down, as ODAC News goes to press, but officials estimate the leak was much bigger than BP claimed and now ranks as the worst in US history…
The Gulf Of Mexico before the oil spill
The oil leak on Mississippi Canyon seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico proceeds apace. It is not clear that recent actions have succeeded in plugging the leak. The widely dispersed petroleum is a great disaster, but I get the distinct impression that this oil is seen as despoiling a pristine environment. Nothing could be further from the truth. I get this impression because, to my knowledge, the sorry state of the Gulf of Mexico before the oil spill has not been discussed.
Toward sustainable travel: breaking the flying addiction
Flying dwarfs any other individual activity in terms of carbon emissions, yet more and more people are traveling by air. With no quick technological fix on the horizon, what alternatives — from high-speed trains to advanced videoconferencing — can cut back the amount we fly?
Peak oil notes – May 27
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-Deepwater Horizon
Deepwater horizon update: Obama’s speech, Tony Hayward yelling, and will “top kill” work? – May 27
-President Obama: Fed Gov’t in Charge of Efforts to Contain Oil Spill, Not BP
-BP and the Annals of the Tin Ear
-‘Top kill’ method ‘slows BP oil leak’ in Gulf of Mexico
-Setback Delays ‘Top Kill’ Effort to Seal Leaking Oil Well in Gulf
Gulf oil slick ‘worst in US history’
Early reports are indicating that BP’s risky bid to plug it’s Gulf of Mexico well appear to be working – but the subsequent oil slick may be far greater than anyone dared fear.
Some Transition thoughts on the energy bits of the Queen’s speech
So the Queen’s Speech has set out the policy priorities for the new government, but were the policies announced a cop-out or do they set out a wartime mobilisation scale of response to climate change and peak oil? These reflections are based on the article about the speech that appeared in yesterday’s Guardian.
Deepwater Horizon: This is what the end of the Oil Age looks like
The cheap, easy petroleum is gone; from now on, we will pay steadily more and more for what we put in our gas tanks—more not just in dollars, but in lives and health, in a failed foreign policy that spawns foreign wars and military occupations, and in the lost integrity of the biological systems that sustain life on this planet.
An Even Bigger Spill Looming?
While the nation’s eyes are turned towards the oil tipped waves and tar balls washing up on the shores of the Gulf Coast, an altogether different energy disaster looms in California—one that might be even more damaging for the environment and our economy in the long run.
Accounting for increasing energy use by the US food system
Energy used by the US food system accounted for 80% of the increase in American energy use between 1997 and 2002, according to a recent report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
