Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
-Europe Must Stop ‘Fetishizing’ American Relationship
-Britain rules out climate treaty at summit
-Recession ‘fuels UK shoplifting’
-10 new nuclear power stations named
-Spain’s windfarms set new national record for electricity generation
-Clive James isn’t a climate change sceptic, he’s a sucker – but this may be the reason
-The Stories We Tell…
-Building a Better Citizen
-Sacred Activism: An Unprecedented Marriage
-The Jobs Doom Loop
-Consumer Liquidity Special Report
-Minsky to Bernanke: “Size Matters!”
-Bailouts for dummies
Crop To Cuisine takes a look at “Smart Choices”, Sacks for Sacks, Animal Welfare in Ohio, and more. We also hear from Leslie Landis about The Art of Overeating, and the importance of doing so this holiday season.
A weekly review including:
– Production and prices
– Recovery or Speculation?
– Climate Change
– Peak Demand
– Quote of the Week
– Energy Stat of the Week
– Briefs
This year’s Petroleum Geology Conference in London included the following item on the agenda:
Peak Oil: Advancing the topical debate over the timing of peak oil & gas…
The retail price of gasoline in the U.S. is extremely low, not just compared to the summer of 2008. Subsidies both direct and hidden create a true cost at least a few times higher than the visible price. The actual cost is paid largely through income taxes (such as for wars in the Middle East and domestic infrastructure), in the purchase of goods and services associated with “free” parking, and even medical care for car/fuel related mortality and morbidity. When the average gasoline price is $2.66 a gallon, according to news reports on the most recent Lundberg Survey, the message to the consumer is “Buy that big vehicle.”
Scientific American presents “A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030” in its November issue. In many ways, it sounds good. But let’s think about the details: What would the end result look like? Would it really be sustainable? What would the costs really be? Is there any way we could afford to do what is proposed?
I had the enormous pleasure this weekend of chairing our synagogues Scholar-in-Residence weekend, and thus hearing three talks by Rabbi Jill Hammer, Midrashist and author of _Sisters at Sinai_ and _The Jewish Book of Days_. Rabbi Hammer is an extremely fine and thoughtful teacher, and I learned a great deal about the nature and process of Midrash (that is, the stories both ancient and modern Jews tell to answer questions raised by Biblical texts).
-Scientists Reveals Secrets Of Drought Resistance
-Speaker says water limitations not recognized
-A Drought-Stricken Land Offers Help With Water
-A Victory for the ‘Water Underground’
-EROWI – energy return of water invested
-Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘Eating Animals’ Book Will Fundamentally Change the Way You Think About Food
-Back to the Land: The New Green Revolution
-Farm Aid
-Georgia growers filling organic niche market
-Discussing the future of urban agriculture in KC
I think the question of land access may end up being the central political issue of the coming century. In both the rich world and the poor world, we’ve systematically deprived people of easy access to land. We have driven up the price of land in the rich world by encouraging sprawl, and thus forced out agrarian populations that previous fed cities. We have pushed people into cities in the name of globalization and industrialization, and claimed their land for speculation.
