Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The Olduvai Theory: energy, population, and industrial civilization /
The permanent energy crisis /
Are Big Oil’s tanks running dry? /
Kinkos founder: ‘after peak oil: apocalypse or opportunity?’ /
EU admits having no plan for ‘peak oil’ crisis
Thirty years ago, the scientist James Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a planetary-scale control system which kept the environment fit for life. He called it Gaia, and the theory has become widely accepted. Now, he believes mankind’s abuse of the environment is making that mechanism work against us. His astonishing conclusion – that climate change is already insoluble, and life on Earth will never be the same again.
Roger Adair on Irish drivers in denial, the collapse of complex societies and addressing an imagination deficit of viable Peak Oil strategies.
If we take this ancient allegory and apply it to this beginning of the 21st century, what might we see through this old lens? Perhaps we could translate the story to our time as the Four Horsemen of Industrial Society.
We are faced with an impending shortage of the source of energy which is hardest to replace – liquid fossil fuels. And we are faced with the environmental consequences of the fossil fuel burning which has permitted us to be standing here now. The structure, the complexity, the diversity of our lives, everything we know, everything that we have taken for granted, that looked solid and non-negotiable, suddenly looks contingent.
A risk of total collapse /
Melting of permafrost threatens homes and roads, scientists warn /
Gas emissions reached high in U.S. in ’04 /
Bill McKibben: Montreal climate summit was too painful to watch /
Eco-tours in Kentucky /
Peak Oil and Climate Change are two historic events for humans and life on earth. The first threatens modern industrial ways of living and the latter threatens the climatic systems that are an integral part of our world and the way we live and survive.
Contemplating the end of oil is frightening, even terrifying. …But since it is Thanksgiving, let’s take a clear-eyed look at our situation and see if there is anything that we can be thankful for.
Environmentalist Bill McKibben on global warming /
Long-term model shows 14.5-degree hike in temperature /
Animal response to climate change may backfire /
EU seeks talks, not targets at U.N. climate meeting /
Canada: dramatic weather changes due to human activity, climate change /
China’s water crisis worst in the world: government official /
Expanding desert could cover China’s breadbasket with sand /
Environmental cloud on horizon for Mediterranean, warns UN
Second part of The Ecologist series on Peak Oil detailing the impacts on food production in the UK. Note that this version is published on the American International Automobile Dealers Assoc. website!!
Speeches and reports from the Petrocollapse conference held in NYC Oct 5: Ruppert, Kunstler, Darnell, Lundberg.
…it would appear that we may be underestimating the breadth of biologic responses to changes in climate. Treating climate-related ills will require preparation, and early-warning systems forecasting extreme weather can help to reduce casualties and curtail the spread of disease. But primary prevention would require halting the extraction, mining, transport, refining, and combustion of fossil fuels — a transformation that many experts believe would have innumerable health and environmental benefits and would help to stabilize the climate.
