Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The oil market was plunged into turmoil as the IEA announced it will tap its strategic reserve for only the third time ever. The agency had hinted in the past months that it might be prepared to release stocks to offset the shortfall in production from the Libyan crisis, to calm prices and avoid a “hard landing” for the global economy.
Calling E. F. Schumacher the “Copernicus” of economic theory, Greer bases his new work on Schumacher’s path breaking book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. Citing Schumacher’s ideas about “intermediate,” or “appropriate” technology, which the respected economist developed as a way to help the people of third world countries achieve employment and a reasonably comfortable standard of living, Greer says that using these same ideas might be a sensible approach for Americans in an age of scarcity.
“Because money talks and BS walks, if the hydrogen economy was an apprentice working for Donald Trump, it would’ve been fired in the first season.” This is just one of the pearls of wisdom from Transition Voice’s new “Snarky Guide to Peak Oil.” It’s got the facts you need to debunk energy myths and the attitude you need to defuse a heated discussion with a smile.
Media reports often fail to connect recurring demonstrations in Greece and Spain with those in the Middle East and North Africa (Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain). After all, the MENA demonstrations are ostensibly about democracy, while European countries already have functioning electoral systems. Protestors in Greece and Spain are instead decrying austerity programs resulting from governmental efforts to rein in deficits and debt burdens.
The collapse of the Greek government amidst a wave of popular protest and riots sent markets reeling this week. The Greeks reject the austerity measures attached to their bailout by the Eurozone, and there is serious concern that other countries will follow…
The original Boston Tea Party, claims liberal talk radio host Thom Hartmann, wasn’t really a protest against higher taxes and unrepresentative government. Instead, its target was the excessive power of a large corporation — the British East India Company. In Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became “People” — and How You Can Fight Back, Hartmann surveys the 250-year tug-of-war between citizens and corporations in the US, charts the ascendancy of today’s plutocratic rule and calls for a movement to take back American democracy. But is it relevant to fighting climate change and preparing for peak oil? You bet it is.
-Greece strikes: ‘The atmosphere is toxic’
-Beijing worries as sense of injustice deepens
-Kuwait ruler warns against unrest, security threats
-UK ministers ignored ‘peak oil’ warnings, report shows
-Senate Rejects Effort to Cut Ethanol Subsidy
-Soot, smog curbs quick way to combat warming: U.N. study
So what’s the alternative to slashing government programs, budget cutting, and more concentrated wealth at the top? The centerpiece of a new approach is to re-structure the labor market by reducing hours of work. That may seem counter-intuitive in a period when the mainstream message is that we are poorer than ever and have to work harder. But the historical record suggests it’s a smart move that will create what economists call a triple dividend: three positive outcomes from one policy innovation.
To feed a growing world population, we have no option but to intensify crop production. But farmers face unprecedented constraints. In order to grow, agriculture must learn to save.
In an ongoing series called “Monday Mayhem,” radio host with a pragmatic view of tackling the challenges of energy, food, and the local economy at the end of the age of oil goes head-to-head with a radio host who promotes free-market solutions. In this edition, Carl Etnier and Rob Roper discuss what it looks like to apply the principles of local, organic food to the functions of government.
Traditional price hawks Iran and Venezuela ganged up with Libya, Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Venezuela and Iraq to defeat the increase, proposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, with voting largely determined by the distribution of spare capacity.
