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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peak Oil & The Energy Crisis" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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11:46 am
[liveonearth]
[Link] |
A Good Idea Whose Time Has Come
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04:16 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | GrowthBusters: Earth Day 2011 Soundtrack
Citizens-Powered Media/GrowthBusters
Fatih Birol has done it again. At the end of May the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) was quoted in The Guardian as saying that preventing a 2 degree increase in global temperatures might be nothing but "a nice Utopia."[1] About a month earlier, on the Australian network ABC, he repeated his organisation's belief that "crude oil production has already peaked, in 2006.”[2] It's starting to look like his tolerance for restrained advisement on energy issues has also peaked and gone into decline.
The Guardian article in question was noteworthy not just because it reported that runaway climate change might be unavoidable depending on what happens this year (a reasonable prediction that, unfortunately, has lost its impact due to continuous warnings), but because it showed how strong the link is between resource consumption and economic growth. Because of the worst recession in living memory, global carbon emissions fell from 29.3Gt (gigatonnes) to 29Gt between 2008 and 2009. Compare that with the huge jump to 30.6Gt that took place in 2010, even as we still swim in the thick of financial troubles (and apparently, declining amounts of cheap oil). The link is not only explicit - it's completely out of proportion. Everything seems to hinge on finding a different goal for our economy.
A group called GrowthBusters, made up of a core of dedicated activists and international volunteers, has been pointing this out for 5 years. Their film, Hooked on Growth, is due for release this October. As part of the effort, an Earth Day soundtrack is currently being sold to raise funds and awareness, and features a mix of artists from various genres[3]. The legendary folk singer Pete Seeger makes an appearance, and his amusing live contribution, "We'll All Be A-Doubling," is a fine centrepiece for much of the CD's acoustic singer-songwriters.
( If you like your music a little more extreme, there's a decent amount on offer here as well. )
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01:37 am
[darksumomo]
[Link] |
The New York Times explains how to completely avoid the real problems of suburbia
Suburbia: What a Concept
By ALLISON ARIEFF
There is no more iconic suburb than Levittown, the postwar planned community built by the developer William Levitt in the late 1940s, so it is understandable that in launching Open House, a collaborative project to imagine a “future suburbia,” the Dutch design collective Droog in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro architects would make it the focus of their inquiry. "Future Suburbia"--now, that looks promising, especially if it can solve the issues facing a car-centered way of living during a time when being car-centered is likely to be more of a liability than an asset. It would be nice if the designers came up with something that actually solved some of the real problems with suburban living during a time of resource shortage and economic contraction that was more uplifting than Kunstler's dismal vision of them being "the slums of the future" with "two or more families living in a McMansion" and "crops growing where the front lawn used to be." Unfortunately, they didn't.
But in approaching a real place as a perfect blank canvas on which to execute distinctly urban interventions, the Open House project conveniently excused itself from substantively engaging with the real issues facing suburbia’s future. Which is a pity. Because it would have been interesting to see what they’d come up with if they had. What a wasted opportunity!
[T]he suburban existence is as exotic to them as say, Dubai, the site of Droog Lab’s first project where, says co-founder Renny Ramakers, they’d made a deliberate decision not to explore it as “a spending society — people felt we weren’t being critical enough; they couldn’t understand why. In this project I don’t want to be critical, I want to look for inspiration because in every part of the world, people are creating their own society, their own community.”
But that’s not really valid. Can we discuss the future of suburbia (or the future of anything, really) without being critical? Without talking about developing accessible transit or increasing walkability (and community) through mixed-use development, for example? This alas, is not uncommon. Addressing suburban ills requires massive change to systems, to finance, to transportation and infrastructure, and perhaps most challenging, to a culture deeply wedded to suburbia as emblematic of the American Dream. ( Ms. Arieff shows that she has a good eye for the real problems of suburbia. In fact, her list of problems, including her observation that the U.S. has become wedded to sururbia as the American Dream, makes her seem as if she's watched )
Above originally posted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
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01:53 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | Trading Bluebloods for Oil
Why anti-Monarchist activists and peak oilers should care about one another's campaigns
By James Lamont.
This past November an announcement shocked the world. We all suspected that it would be confirmed eventually, not least because of years of media speculation. But suddenly we had a date for it - a date that could be stamped decisively into the history books. It has dominated the headlines ever since and even threatened to overshadow the seriousness of the austerity cuts being implemented across most of the Western world, an issue to which it is closely connected. I am of course talking about the announcement from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that global conventional oil production peaked back in 2006, signaling officially that our industrial way of life is on the way out(1).
Unfortunately, the media coverage wasn’t quite that which is given to your average Royal engagement (or even 1%). And on the surface, perhaps that’s fair. We learn when we are children that oil is a finite resource. Those interested in peak oil have always known that the exact time of the peak wouldn’t be obvious until years after it happened, and a casual look at the data since 2006 made it pretty clear that we were probably already very close to the stage of decline. But the Paris-based IEA is a conservative and restrained body. Its coupling of the announcement with absurd reassurances that tar sands and other polluting and pathetic technologies would keep economic growth trundling along for a few more decades is proof of that. For this organisation to finally give us a specific date in the face of its usual policy of trying to keep everyone calm (and in the dark), was a sobering moment. This world-changing problem took on a solid form.
The fantasy world of energy resources is mirrored in the fantasy world of the Wills and Kate wedding. Politicians and newspapers invited us to escape our economic woes by living vicariously through them and their Disneyfied lives. Despite the fact that it is actually they who are living through us on their taxpayer-funded special day, it is tempting to buy into this logic – what’s wrong with a little innocent escapism? The problem is that the Royal establishment is using this once-in-a-generation event to revitalise a positive image of themselves as saviours of the nation, at a time when dissenting questions regarding their place in the world are increasing.
( Read more... )
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11:05 am
[liveonearth]
[Link] |
Preparing to Resist Radioactivity
Nuclear plants in Japan are melting down, and radioactive clouds are headed our way across the Pacific. We have time to prepare...but what should we do? I am full of ideas, but mind you, this is not medical advice! Just the random rantings of some stranger on the internet! With that said, maybe it is a good time to increase your antioxidant intake, and keep it high for the forseeable future. Also, because much radioactivity is carried from such events in the form of radioactive iodine, maybe it's time to fill all your iodine receptors with healthy non-radioactive iodine. That way you reduce the amount of radioactivity your body takes in. The thyroid is the #1 place that iodine is used, and guess where is #2? The breast! Yes. And especially in teenage girls, the risk of cancer if iodine levels are low is radically increased--even when no noxious clouds are headed our way. Studies after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that the people who survived best and had least symptoms of radioactivity poisoning were the ones with the highest iodine intakes. It even helps to take iodine after the exposure, but it's better to get it in preventatively.
Here's one explanation in the news:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/954256--explainer-how-iodine-pills-protect-against-radiation
( more on exactly what I'm doing---and on what NOT to do!!!! )
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02:56 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] | Well, this is it. I would no doubt be writing a more epic entry if I weren't on limited computer time, due to being with my girlfriends family for Christmas. But that's probably a good thing.
I'd like to thank said girlfriend, Alison, AKA ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) teamtriceratops for her help with this community over the years, her posts and getting the community spotlighted, and for her encouragement and support.
I'd also like to thank everyone who has been reading, lurking, commenting, making entries and providing me with information from other locations. If you ever need something you read here, you will be able to refer back, as I won't be deleting this place. Which also means that should anyone wish to continue using it, they of course are welcome to.
Not everyone has been happy with the increasing number of posts regarding economics, but things really seem to be coming to a head with regard to the global limits we face, and economics is what make that most clear for most people. Very little else is now reported on without some reference to its links with the economy. It's become impractical to try and post it all here, in a space with self-imposed limits. Far from being at "the end of history," as the neoliberals believed, history seems to be moving at an ever faster pace. It's a cliche in circles like ours, but as the saying goes, "we live in interesting times." Let's hope interesting isn't always a euphemism for dismal.
Let's keep up the momentum, shall we?
- James.
Shortlist of sources
SchNEWS (anti-capitalist news)
George Monbiot (radical environmental/social journalist)
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (as it says in the title)
Post Carbon Institute (peak oil-centric website)
The PowerSwitch Peak Oil Daily (UK based peak oil news)
Turbulence Collective (analysis of the 'movement of movements')
Growthbusters (documentary about our addiction to all kinds of growth)
Camp for Climate Action (UK) (climate justice direct action network)
Survival International (climate change section) (indigenous rights)
Shift Magazine (radical analysis and inter-movement critique)
350.org (large global climate movement based in science)
Climate Justice Action (international network committed to action on the root causes of climate change)
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11:45 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Optimistic ending.
Top 10 Songs for the Steady State
I have a friend who sees the end of the world coming soon. When he ponders the limits to economic growth, climate destabilization, and other ecological and economic problems, he tends to fall into a state of malaise. I understand to some degree where he’s coming from – I’m not one to hide my head in the sand and ignore or deny the profound problems we face. But given the amount of time that I spend contemplating the limits to growth, I can’t afford to get mired in the swamps of doom and gloom. The main way I keep a positive perspective is by working to change the root cause (i.e., pursuit of growth everlasting) of our ecological overshoot. A steady state economy that can meet people’s needs and exist within healthy environmental systems is a truly inspiring idea.
I also do some other things to keep a positive perspective. For example, I like to play and listen to music regularly. Music speaks to most of us in a way that no other art form can – we all have special songs that touch our souls. Before I go any further with this line of thought, I need to provide a brief disclaimer about my musical taste. I grew up in the 1980s on Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 radio program.
Besides indoctrinating me on some suspect styles, songs and sounds, American Top 40 taught me a lesson. It demonstrated how fun and addictive countdowns can be. In the spirit of keeping things light-hearted, I thought it would be interesting to compose a top-ten list of songs with a steady state theme. In descending order below, I’ve listed the title of the song, the performer, the album on which the song appears, and some choice lyrics. I’m sure that I’ve missed some good ones, so please feel free to comment on your favorites. I have also made a YouTube playlist in case you find yourself in a steady state mood. And now, on with the countdown…
( List and selective lyrics within, featuring R.E.M., The Beatles, Ben Harper, Ben Folds, Talking Heads, John Prine, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, Eddie Vedder and Jerry Hannan (Into the Wild soundtrack) and John Lennon. Check out the youtube playlist! )
Bonus Track: Corporation Day
by Dan O’Neill, CASSE Director of European Operations
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11:26 am
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
You can get GM articles on your LJ page at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif?v=92.2) monbiot, or sign up for emails at his site.
Cold Burn
Yes, the extreme cold in the UK right now really could be a result of global warming.
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There is now strong evidence to suggest that the unusually cold winters of the past two years in the UK are the result of heating elsewhere. With the help of the severe weather analyst John Mason and the Climate Science Rapid Response Team(1), I’ve been through as much of the scientific literature as I can lay hands on. (Please also see John Mason’s article, which explains the issue in more detail(2)). Here’s what seems to be happening.
The global temperature maps published by NASA present a striking picture(3). Last month’s shows a deep blue splodge over Iceland, Spitsbergen, Scandanavia and the UK, and another over the western US and eastern Pacific. Temperatures in these regions were between 0.5 and 4 degrees colder than the November average from 1951 and 1980. But on either side of these cool blue pools are raging fires of orange, red and maroon: the temperatures in western Greenland, northern Canada and Siberia were between two and ten degrees higher than usual(4). NASA’s Arctic oscillations map for December 3-10 shows that parts of Baffin Island and central Greenland were 15 degrees warmer than the average for 2002 to 2009(5). There was a similar pattern last winter(6). These anomalies appear to be connected.
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I can already hear the howls of execration: now you’re claiming that this cooling is the result of warming! Well yes, it could be. A global warming trend doesn’t mean that every region becomes warmer, every month. That’s what averages are for: they put local events in context. The denial of manmade climate change has mutated first into a denial of science in general, now into a denial of basic arithmetic. If it’s snowing in Britain, a thousand websites and quite a few newspapers tell us, the planet can’t be warming.
According to NASA’s datasets, the world has just experienced the warmest January-November since the global record began, 131 years ago(19). 2010 looks likely to be either the hottest or the equal hottest year. This November was the warmest on record(20).
Sod all that, my correspondents insist: just look out of the window. No explanation of the numbers, no description of the North Atlantic Oscillation or the Arctic Dipole, no reminder of current temperatures in other parts of the world, can compete with the observation than there’s a foot of snow outside. We are simple, earthy creatures, governed by our senses. What we see and taste and feel overrides analysis. The cold has reason in a deathly grip.
This community will be formally ending on December 23rd. Read the details here.
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12:52 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
Schnews says goodbye.
SOAR POINT
RATCLIFFE POWER STATION GUILTY VERDICT
“Taking action on climate change is not an act of moral righteousness, but of self-defence. History is full of ordinary people who have acted to protect their fundamental rights and we need a strong movement of people doing just that. We want to reiterate our support for everyone fighting for climate justice.” - Ratcliffe Defendants statement.
This week, as world leaders predictably failed to come up with a global carbon emissions policy in Cancún there was a disappointing result for twenty climate campaigners in Nottingham Crown Court. The twenty defendants were charged with ‘conspiracy to aggravated tresspass’ after a mass arrest in April 2009 (see SchNEWS 672) prevented an action taking place against Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. After three days of deliberation the jury in their case returned a unanimous guilty verdict.
Altogether 114 activists were arrested in the raid on the school. Most later had their charges dropped. Of the twenty six who went to trial, twenty decided to run a ‘necessity’ defence, admitting that they planned the action but maintaining that their main purpose was to prevent the emission of 150,000 tonnes of CO2 during the week that Ratcliffe was to be shut down. One team of protesters would have pressed the emergency stop buttons on the coal conveyors which feed the boilers, while another team would have climbed the inside of the chimney before abseiling into the flues to prevent the plant re-opening for a week. Six others who are due to stand trial in January are maintaining that they were not part of the plot.
The occupation was meticulously planned and was intended to last for a week. However, during the prosecution case it was revealed that police knew about the plan at least five days in advance. In the end the prosecution only produced one witness - Raymond Smith, the power station manager. Apparently, according to a source close to the trial, two senior police were due to give evidence but were pulled at the last minute. Its unknown whether this was to avoid awkward questions about police intelligence gathering. (Undercover cop Mark Stone / Kennedy – see SchNEWS 745 - was present when the school was raided.)
Ratcliffe-on-Soar, owned by German energy giant E.ON, has been the repeated target of environmental activists. In 2007, activists from Eastside Climate Action succeeded in infiltrating the plant (see SchNEWS 583). In October 2009 , a thousand activists converged on the site in the Great Climate Swoop (see SchNEWS 696). As a coal-burning power station it kicks around ten million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. While he was on the stand the station manager admitted that the station burned coal rather than cleaner gas solely to make profit.
Disclaimer
SchNEWS advises all readers, sign on, tune out and drop off the radar this Christmas. Honest.
This community will be formally ending on December 23rd. Read the details here.
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11:26 pm
[smashboredom]
[Link] |
The website "Jewbonics" - ! (maintained by a Jew)
We pay for every Israeli war at the gas pump
How about a new slogan for the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements? We pay for every Israeli war at the gas pump! No aid to Israel!
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"Bells are ringing in the corridors already. If this carries on, if it's a really cold winter, we can see prices heading up to $100. "At some stage even the Saudis will realise there's something going on here, and that they should respond. And they will." Opec has maintained a production target of 24.845 million barrels a day since December 2008, the longest period that quotas have stayed unchanged since they were first used in 1982.
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Every US$10-a-barrel increase added US$42 billion to the cost of US imports, US$49 billion in Europe, US$19 billion for China and US$16 billion to Japan, Blanch said.
"Within about two weeks of oil being at US$100, I think you would get more consumer-nation pressure on Opec" to increase production, said Ann-Louise Hittle, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie in Boston. "Their number one concern is not to damage heavily the economic recovery that is under way."
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Iraq will account for 54 per cent of the increase in Opec's supply capacity in the six years ending 2015, according to the IEA, replacing Iran as the biggest producer after Saudi Arabia.
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And what would the US do without dictatorships in the region to funnel petrodollars to armaments and stock speculation? It’d be in trouble. And how to maintain dictatorships? Say, “It’s for Israel’s security.” And how to maintain that policy? Let the Israel Lobby screech away. Screech away about what? Screech away about Israel's security every time there's a conflict in the Middle East: 1967, 1973, 1980, 1991, 2003. Regional conflict fuels profits for the oil majors. Defending Israel's "security" means defending the profits of oil companies. Israeli politicians and generals probably believe they're "defending" Israel, and of course, they are, in a way. They're defending Israel's right to aggressively dominate the Arab and Muslim peoples of the Near East, the corollary of dominating the Palestinians. You can't dominate the Palestinians without Arab dictatorships, because Arab democracies would not tolerate Zionist settler-colonial domination. The Lobby believes it's all tied up in one bundle, too. But they are paid to believe it. And cui bono? We already know: ExxonMobil, Lockheed Martin, and since 2004, the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange. You want a conspiracy? It’s all happening right in front of our eyes.
This community will be formally ending on December 23rd. Read the details here.
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