Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In Bush’s state of the union address we all heard him say the words “addicted to oil”. I was elated for the rest of the week. I know, I know. This doesn’t mean he’ll actually do anything about it, but at least we can now hear the problem addressed from all fronts.
Sustainable fossil fuels (Dr. Mark Jaccard) /
Tragedy prompts personal peak oil website /
NZ branch of ASPO started /
The Oil Drum empire expands to the UK /
Ex-CIA head and environmentalists agree on no-oil thinking /
Revisiting the Olduvai Theory /
Peak Oil becoming de facto /
Poster child of the collapse /
An energy Pearl Harbor?
We’re all in the same global boat – racing the rapids of capitalism, low on fuel and overheating. Colin Tudge assesses the doomsayers, Ecological Ethics, Half Gone, The Revenge of Gaia and State of the World 2006.
Novelist and screenwriter Michael Ventura envisions how we will live after peak oil in a series of columns that appeared in the Austin Chronicle.
The world has passed “peak fish” and fishermen’s nets will be hauling in ever diminishing loads unless there’s political action to stem the global tide of over fishing, says a fisheries expert based at the University of British Columbia.
While those who fear we are headed for major energy shortages or a climate catastrophe in the near future may be premature, they actually offer the kind of advice that Taleb might: “Since the consequences could be so extreme, let’s prepare now.”
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 /
