Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Declining world oil production, the huge private debts of Britons and Americans, the lack of an exit strategy in Iraq, and irreversible global warming: these are the big challenges of the next four years. For all of them, Britain will be gloriously unprepared.
So all’s well with the Axis of Oil? Not quite. This is because the symbiotic relationship between the world’s largest oil consumer [US] and its largest producer [SA] is under attack from a surprising corner. Complaints from greens about cheap oil, Bushphobic wailings from the Michael Moore brigade and neo-conservative worries about Saudi terrorism are all well established. But the axis is now being challenged by an increasing number of pragmatists from the centre-right of American politics.
If [peak oil] appears to have suddenly “burst” onto the scene it’s due to two principle factors: 1) the “tipping point” is only now fast being realized, and 2) the rise of the internet has given the public a comprehensive, responsive and uncensored media forum in which to recognize it….the case for Peak Oil has been slowly pieced together by a kind of open committee of researchers–some admittedly dubious or ill-informed, but many quite well-informed and highly regarded.
At the recent “Peak Oil UK” conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, one attendee stood out from the usual peak oil crowd: Nick Griffin, chairman of the far-right British National Party.
Can the world’s new oil projects match demand? Richard Heinberg comments on Skrebowski’s latest Oilfields Megaprojects Report and its implications for local and global security (or lack of it) and discusses the need for relocalization.
UK oil depletion awareness organisation PowerSwitch.org.uk officially launches free forum for people concerned about the imminent peak in global oil production and the consequences for the UK to meet, talk and work locally to raise awareness.
Interview with New York Times columnist and “geo-green” advocate Thomas Friedman
The New Zealand Green Party in anticipation on an election this year, is beginning to prepare by advertising on billboards throughout the country about Peak Oil.
Between them, the Christian and neocon right, the enviro-left, and the mullahs of the Middle East may finally achieve what a young Thatcherite once dreamt of. The geo-neocon-green movement may have arrived. Just in time.
Report from a regional thinktank, concluding that exporting natural gas is not the best strategic option for the Arab World.
Jorge Figueiredo argues that Peak Oil will exacerbate a crisis in capitalism, and the as yet unwritten result could either be fascistic or ‘revolutionary’.
So where are the Democratic voices linking energy conservation and national security? With awareness of Peak Oil rising along with prices at the pump, it’s time for Democrats to make it clear they are leading the charge for the geo-green strategy.
