Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The most critical thing is not which system we ultimately choose to go with, but that we make the system as transparent, robust, and equitable as possible. And, of course, that we put it into place as soon as possible—we simply do not have much time left to start initiating these reductions in emissions.
[In] much of the alternative/protest movement… we take up a position outside of mainstream culture, use language, dress codes, behaviour and forms of protest which at best bewilder and at worst enrage mainstream society, yet we expect them to see the error of their ways and the validity of ours and embark on a radical decarbonisation. What failed to come through in [these approaches] was any sense of humility, any sense that the answers might be found anywhere other than in their fondly held beliefs.
Slow Food at full speed: they ate it up
Eric Schlosser: Slow Food for thought
Univ. of Calif.: Causes and consequences of the food price crisis
Meet the urban sharecroppers
Thomas Friedman: And then there was one
The unusual challenges Palin faced in Alaska
Palin’s connection to ‘big oil’
Where climate/energy issues stand in the Democratic Party
Conventions, prominence of energy and climate
Stepping off the gas (WaPo on gas tax)
A digest of news and commentary from a UK peak oil perspective
Coal plans go up in smoke
Nasa scientist appears in court to fan the flames of coal power station row
The world spends $300 billion subsidizing fossil fuels
Heinberg on New Coal Technologies
Throwaway razors and nappies should be taxed as luxuries, says Defra
Oil costs bring thinner bin bags
Ghost Species
Johnson unveils secret weapon in war on climate change – the roof garden
This US election year an unprecedented number of voters will likely head to the polls to cast their ballots in an exercise that should take just a few minutes to complete. But what about the rest of the minutes left in the year? Author and activist Chris Carlsson has some suggestions for social change beyond voting in Nowtopia, a new book about modern day rebels who, in his words, “aren’t waiting for an institutional change from on-high but are getting on with building the new world in the shell of the old.”
The Western Maryland Republican has given nearly 50 such speeches at the Capitol in the past three years, most of them variations on a theme: that a coming decline in petroleum production, coupled with growing demand for energy, will have a calamitous impact on the global economy. (Excerpts)
Rob Hopkins on “transition towns” and peak oil
Don’t be scared, be prepared
(review of “Just In Case”)
The limits of volunteerism
Beyond voting: guerrilla gardeners, outlaw bicyclists & pirate programmers
A digest of news and commentary from a UK peak oil perspective
Fuel prices drive cars off the roads
Safe in our cages
Rush for oil reaches Britain’s fields
