Politics

A conversation with Michael Klare, author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet

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The United States remains the world’s sole military superpower, but it is unclear what advantage this offers in a world of shrinking energy supplies and intense competition for what remains of them. … there is an ever-growing danger that the major consuming nations will provoke regional arms races and get drawn into local resource disputes, thus increasing the risk of unintended Great Power-conflicts.

Resilient communities: A guide to disaster management

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There are plenty of marginalized “alternatives” advocates who for decades have been researching and promoting low-energy ways of doing things that will make perfect sense in a post-petroleum environment. What if these folks could be mobilized and coordinated, their knowledge made readily available to local officials and the public at large, in preparation for the imminent period when existing systems start to fail in ever more obvious ways?

Heinberg: Resilient communities – paths for powering down:

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Now that he’d warmed us up with a talk on ‘Peak Everything,’ Richard Heinberg said he’d come back to try out some new ideas he’d working with over the past few weeks. “It’s all a big unknown,” he admitted, but had decided we were the kind of audience that could handle the unknown. Where are we? Where are we going?

Oil execs asked to justify huge profits at Congressional hearing

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The executives of the five biggest oil companies were called to testify at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. Lawmakers took them to task for making enormous profits but investing next to nothing in renewable sources of energy. (Excerpts from testimony) Followed by commentary from analyst Steve Kretzmann of Oil Change International.

Dance of the oil fairies

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Even the most hard-hitting questioners in the Congressional grilling of oil execs failed to pin the execs down on the real issue. Namely, how to convince an oil industry that is running up against absolute supply limits to switch gears and invest resources in the “clean energy revolution.” Calif. Rep. Jerry McNerney was the only one to utter the words “peak oil.”