Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Communal life – our tribal past – valued the group over the individual. We left our communal past to put the individual’s benefit (and especially material benefit) before the common good, in the process losing much of our memory of community.
As an oil producer, Saskatchewan seems to have it all. The Bakken light oil trend is a play of frenzied activity. So is Cenovus Energy’s carbon injection oil operation at Weyburn (the world’s largest carbon capture and storage facility). But the province’s meat and potatoes – conventional heavy oil production in the Lloydminster and Kindersley areas – are hidden behind these high-profile developments. The province’s first 2010 land sale tells the story, but it’s only clear if you dig deeply into the numbers.
Tom Barefoot and Linda Wheatley explain the idea behind an upcoming conference in Vermont on how governments can measure the success of their policies using gross national happiness, not gross national product. And Ben Hewitt, author of the book about Hardwick called The Town That Food Saved, tells what he learned from the people of Hardwick about the difference between economic prosperity and quality of life.
Philosopher-farmers Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson and Gene Logsdon discuss the future of agriculture, the environment and changing our ideas about growth and progress.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-Iraq
-Iran
-Power shortages
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
On January 28th, 1969 the Union Oil Company’s Platform A, located six miles from Santa Barbara, CA experienced a “blow-out.” Highly pressurized deposits of natural gas pushed upward against the newly bored well causing oil to leak from the pipe and casings…The blow-out was devastating. Ironically, and tragically, this year’s Earth Day celebrations coincided with another oil rig blow-out, this time offshore of Louisiana. Like other recent mining disasters, the explosion and sinking of the rig caused by a well blow-out has claimed the lives of at least eleven workers.
Oil demand was down this week — as were most European flight schedules. The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano wrought further damage to the airline industry,which is already on its heels as a result of high fuel prices and recession…
Despite constant growth in oil prices and projected record demand, many companies working in the industry are experiencing a tough start to the year and face “uncertainty over project costs and expected returns.”
Energy crisis imminent (2011): DOE refused to comment on its own hypothesis
– Will toe-to-heel air injection extend the Oil Age?
– Arctic oil drilling threatens Norway government
– Playing with Peak Oil awareness (video game)
– The energy policy morass (conservatives recognize peak oil)
A weekly review including:
– Production and prices
– The volcano
– Update on the droughts
-Ritter OKs bill on natural-gas power plants
-Three themes emerge from Algeria’s gas exporters’ meeting
-Gas exporters push for prices to be linked to crude
-A contrarian makes another call – this time, natural gas
-UK natural gas storage: The politics, and the pundits
Earth Day Network is organizing a huge event on the Mall in Washington D.C. on April 25. The goal is to demand tough, effective climate legislation and a swift transition away from 19th century energy sources.
