Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
With contaminated water from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear complex continuing to pour into the Pacific, scientists are concerned about how that radioactivity might affect marine life. Although the ocean’s capacity to dilute radiation is huge, signs are that nuclear isotopes are already moving up the local food chain.
Rob Hopkins describes our fossil-fuelled industrialised lifestyle as an addiction. We’re addicted to oil. And that presents humanity with a major dilemma: we find ourselves stuck inside a destructive self-replicating system with very few ideas of how to get out of it. We can either get together and find ways to liberate ourselves, or face the consequences of a planetary meltdown. Tough call either way.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa
-Japan
-The fear factor
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
We need to rebuild the kind of mass movement that marked 1970: bodies, passion, and creativity are the currencies we can compete in. It’s not impossible.
The ‘holy grail’ in terms of the construction of new sustainable buildings is homes that reach the highest level of energy efficiency, whilst also using as high a proportion of locally sourced materials as possible, what we might call ‘The Local Passivhaus’. Two buildings, recently completed in Ebbw Vale, known as ‘The Lime House’ and ‘The Larch House’ have moved this concept forward significantly.
Public process as it exists today is not a desirable commons-based, inclusive, creative, bottom-up assertion of ideas by the people—although that is what it pretends to be. It’s actually an expert-driven, one-way dissemination of ideas from the top.
“You’re so pessimistic,” one student said. Another added, “There are alternative energy sources and electric cars that are coming along.” Yet another said, “Look, oil prices are high because of speculation –there’s really lots of oil left.” … Another, who had not spoken during the discussion, said, “I get what you’re saying; it’s pretty damned late to be thinking about this stuff if you’re right, isn’t it?”
Natural gas is being promoted as a "bridge fuel" to a clean energy future, and even as an abundant, long-term energy source. The claims are audacious, but do they match with reality?
Today I joined the newly formed Board of Directors of 350.org. I have been a supporter of 350.org since I first heard about the wacky plan to turn a wonky scientific target into a global people’s movement. In the past three years, we have all watched the number “350” morph into a beautiful and urgent S.O.S., rising up from every corner of the globe, from Iceland to the Maldives, Ethiopia to Alaska.
The oil price hit a two and half year high this week of $123/barrel as the Libyan conflict continues to dominate market sentiment. This pushed the sterling value of crude to an all time high, exceeding even its level in the summer of 2008 when the dollar price reached $147/barrel, because the pound has slumped 17% against the greenback since then.
My recent piece on the cost of tuition at the Friends Seminary in Manhattan has gotten enough play to warrant a response. So here goes.
Why is it that the commons is so often excluded from official policy discussions about how to manage resources and improve people’s lives? This strikes me as a serious void in our public conversations, one that we desperately need to correct.
