Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Shot in 13 countries over a four-year period, Oil Apocalypse Now? reveals the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the future of our world’s oil supplies. It includes interviews with over 30 of the most influential people on both sides of the argument to examine if the oil age is coming to an end. The film will be shown on CBC (Canada) in September.
Trading Places – The demographic inversion of the American city
San Francisco ponders: Could bike lanes cause pollution?
Transition initiatives in North America
Geologist Jeffrey Brown: the oil peak is past
Russian oil exports: dropping, but why?
Q: Will we see $3 gasoline before we see $5?
Are oil prices rigged?
Wikipedia megaproject update
Oil’s Washington juggernaut
Pump primed for fall fight on energy
Is T. Boone Pickens right?
There will be Boone
More than halfway through the games, a rarity for Beijing: a breath of fresh air
Coal’s toxic legacy to the Arctic
Birds can’t keep up with climate change: study
A mid-week update on peak oil, including:
– Prices and consumption
– Georgia and the BTC pipeline
Jad Mouawad: As oil giants lose influence, supply drops
A few speculators dominate vast market for oil trading
The future is now; the end of cheap oil
Russia sees oil output stalling
Raymond James: State of Russian oil ‘much worse than we would have imagined 6 months ago’
The Stories We Tell Ourselves: “One of the things that makes our culture’s reliance on the utopian myths of progress and apocalypse so problematic as we approach the end of the age of cheap energy is that both narratives claim to explain the entire universe.”
Tools for the Transition: “One of the most hopeful features of this side of our predicament is that the revitalization of old technologies can be done successfully by individuals working on their own. It’s precisely those technologies that can be built, maintained, and used by individuals that formed the mainstay of the economy in the days before cheap, abundant energy…” (paean to the slide rule)
I’ve been reading John Michael Greer’s Archdruid Report for a few months now and I thought his book would be pretty esoteric, but it’s actually brilliant in its simplicity and a much-needed wise and reasonable voice for the peak oil community
Anti-regulation aide to Cheney is up for energy post
Why oil prices continue to fluctuate
Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith
Renewed push for uranium mining in West
Drive 55 campaign gaining speed
Tall ship Belem delivers wine by sail and saves carbon
The handmade commuter bike
People think we can insulate ourselves from supply disruptions, from our dependence on potentially unreliable foreign sources of oil, by improving our efficiency and eliminating “unnecessary” oil consumption. In my opinion, this is backward. I will argue that, because the demand that is destroyed first in a free market is the demand that is easiest to eliminate, the resulting consumptive system is more inelastic, more brittle, and more susceptible to systemic shock from supply disruption.
