Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Winston Churchill once remarked that “[t]he United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.” The assumption behind that remark is that there will be time to do the right thing after all alternatives have been exhausted. This assumption is especially troubling when it comes to addressing such issues as peak oil and climate change.
Kurt Cobb has just released a page-turner of a first novel titled Prelude, which uses a Grisham-esque tale of suspense and intrigue to educate the public about peak oil. Prelude’s main character is a young energy analyst who discovers a top-secret report shedding light on the true, precarious state of the world’s oil reserves….Allegorically named Cassie, she stands for all of the real-life Cassandras within the peak oil movement, who, like the Cassandra of Greek myth, are able to foresee disaster but so far seem cursed never to be believed.
– Yglesias on Peak Oil
– Rising prices rekindle peak oil debate (Jaccard vs Heinberg)
– A shoppers guide to energy choices
2011 blew in with strong echoes 2008 as food and fuel prices rose strongly. The UN warned food prices are reaching “dangerous levels” as the global food index rose above the level that caused widespread rioting three years ago, and the IEA’s Fatih Birol cautioned rising oil prices could derail the economic recovery. WTI is around $88/barrel and Brent crude almost $94.
And so the combination of peak oil and extreme weather is likely to create growing food insecurity this decade, particularly since the nation and the world have decided to take no action to address either problem.
-The Legacy of David Suzuki
-China’s Grey Swan is changing colors
-Capitalism and Degrowth—An Impossibility Theorem
-The Oil – Employment Link, Part 1
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
-Paying the Iranians
– How I learned to stop worrying and love the Saudis
– Bolivia: Morales Repeals Decree Raising Fuel Prices
– Tax on Carbon: The Only Way to Save Our Planet? (James Hansen)
– Crafting Energy Security in the 21st Century: A German View of the Challenge
Douglas Coupland’s vision of an oil-crisis apocalypse in his novel “Player One” is so frightening because it seems so plausible. Would you like to be holed up in a tacky cocktail lounge of an airport hotel when oil hits $250 a barrel, the planes stop flying and the power goes out? And that’s just the beginning.
The scientific community has long agreed that our dependence on fossil fuels inflicts massive damage on the environment and our health, while warming the globe in the process. But beyond the damage these fuels cause to us now, what will happen when the world’s supply of oil runs out? In a new video series from The Nation and On The Earth Productions, Bill McKibben, Noam Chomsky, Nicole Foss, Richard Heinberg and other scientists, researchers and writers explain.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Top 10 developments of 2010
-Oil and the global economy
-Briefs
Many automobile enthusiasts believe that the electric car is the wave of the future that will help save the environment while expanding the availability of private transport to the world’s growing middle class. They are wrong on both counts.
