Two on Energy

The Peak Oil Crisis: When? by Tom Whipple (Resilience)

The Energetic Basis of Wealth by Barath Raghavan (Resilience)

Items of Interest, 13 October 2011

John Robb, How to Create an Occupy Tribe
Russell Arben Fox, George F. Will and the Decline of the Tory
Philip Giraldi, Republican Foreign Policy Follies
Paul Craig Roberts, Pat Buchanan’s SUICIDE OF A SUPERPOWER: The Suicide of Liberty

Peak Oil:
The peak oil crisis: contagion by Tom Whipple (EB)
Peak oil from the ivory tower[i] by Dan Bednarz, PhD (EB)

Mormonism:
Thomas Fleming, Christians And/Or Mormons
Rod Dreher, What is a Christian Anyway?

Catholic:
Old Solesmes vs. the Rhetorical Method (Richard Llewellyn's comment)
Putinism and the Ukrainian Catholic Church (via HRM)

Downton Abbey:
Downton Abbey Cast Interview
Food of Downton Abbey

Music:
Mi Corazoncito Esta De Luto: Melancholy New Releases From Latin America (mp3)
The Sixteen on BBC3 (6 days left)

Katherine Jenkins - Daydream Out Now

Items of Interest, 11 August 2011

The Record: Country's New Guard Gets Back To Basics

Smashing the melon of American complacency with the mallet of Russian grit
Tom Whipple, The Peak Oil Crisis: Technology
A journey home – Seeking the essence of Transition in England


Power and The Professors
There are times, a philosopher said, when the wise man should just keep quiet and offer up prayers for his country's welfare.
(A review of The Forum and the Tower by Mary Ann Glendon.)

David Kern, Waiting For Superman: A Review for Christian Educators

August Issue: K-pop Star Turned Chef Remakes Southern BBQ

Robb Wolf: Big “Fat” Blog Post 2 (The first part)

Good to see a Catholic media outlet paying attention

'Peak oil' era may have arrived - and civilization will never be the same

Tom Whipple: Why Won't Americans Face Reality?

The case for a disorderly energy descent by Karl North (EB)

The peak oil crisis: the 3rd transition

The peak oil crisis: the 3rd transition by Tom Whipple

Items of Interest, 12 January 2011

EB:
The globe's limitations: How peak oil threatens economic growth
Richard Heinberg, The Nation



Tom Whipple talks about the possibility of civil unrest.

Thinking outside the box
Dave Cohen, Decline of the empire

Secrecy by complexity: Obfuscation in energy data, and the primacy of crude oil
Gregor Macdonald, The Oil Drum

Ecological civilization
Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review

CP:
Franklin Spinney, Surging Tit for Tat in Afghanistan
Alan Nasser /Kelly Norman, The Student Loan Debt Bubble
Mike Whitney, The Unreported War in Mexico
Paul Craig Roberts tilting towards the left? A Brief for Animals

The peak oil crisis: the time of the demagogues
Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press
At present America is abounding with demagogues professing an answer to the current economic difficulties and a restoration of the jobs and prosperity that is the American birth right. Restoring "prosperity" in the conventional sense of acquiring more and fancier things and ever increasing real incomes will, of course, be impossible as liquid fuels become more and more expensive.

The peak oil crisis: the future of government by Tom Whipple (EB)

Although few recognize how precarious the situation is, we are trapped in a very complex civilization that is rapidly losing the sources of energy and numerous other raw materials that built and maintained it. In America today we have millions un- and under-employed and that is certain to grow into the tens of millions before the decade is out as our politicians horse-trade tax cuts for billionaires in return for extensions of unemployment benefits. The good news is that this phase of the great transition from the industrial age to that which will follow cannot last much longer for events are moving too fast.

These unemployed and underemployed can replace the energy of fossil fuels, as they grow more expensive -- the question is whether they will be working as freemen or as slaves.

Jeff Rubin: Oil and the End of Civilization

Jeff Rubin: Oil and the End of Civilization

Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization




From last year: The Oil Drum | Jeff Rubin Talks about Oil and the Economy

Energy Bulletin:
Distance costs money

Lindsay Curren, Transition Voice

Economist Jeff Rubin, author of Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization says that high oil prices caused every US recession since the 1970s. Now we complain that credit scams are a bubble that will cause deflation. But is oil still lurking in there?

Peak coal is moving closer too

Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press

If what we are witnessing is the actual peaking of China's domestic coal production - which is half the world's production -- then this event could turn out to be as serious as the peaking of oil.

Items of Interest, 30 June 2010

Laura Wood, Catholic Feminism and the Popes
Defense Review: SOCOM Cancels FN Mk-16 SCAR-L (SCAR-Light) 5.56mm NATO Rifle/Carbine/SBR Weapons Program. Will the FN Mk-17 SCAR-H (SCAR-Heavy) 7.62mm NATO Variant Survive? Only the Shadow Knows.
Fabius Maximus, COIN as future generations will see it (and as we should see it today)

Free the Animal: Learning to Walk and Out with the Vibram Five Fingers and in with the Soft Star RunAmoc

Some people are not suited for office:
Female Senator Brings up Vampires, Werewolves in SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings
The Senate Jumps the Shark

Energy Bulletin:
Crazy Ideas For Crazy Garden Farmers (original)

Gene Logsdon, OrganicToBe.org

I wonder if a book titled A Guide To Insane Farming would sell, especially when, upon opening the book, the reader would encounter descriptions of how farming is actually done today. But what I’m talking about at the moment are ideas that really are off the grid, outside the box, beyond normalcy, agronomic lunacy.

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Real Gulf Crisis (original)

Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press

Counterpunch:
Ralph Nader, 36 Questions for Elena Kagan
Alan Farago, BP's Temple of Doom

Asia News:
Asian stock markets fall, doubts about recovery in China
Nikkei at minus 2.13; Hong Kong and Shanghai negative. Consumer confidence in the U.S. falls, forecasts for growth in China reduced from 1.7 to 0.3 (April). Yen strengthens, penalizing exports from Japan.

Asia Times:
The anatomy of an attack on Iran
The strategic and political realities of a possible Israeli air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities are complex, while the coordination of logistics and tactics of such a long-distance mission - 1,600 kilometers on a straight line from Tel Aviv to Iran's uranium enrichment site in Natanz - would be equally daunting. - David Moon

Gates open on departure
The Chinese government harbors no illusions that the change in leadership at the Pentagon when Secretary of Defense Robert Gates steps down will bring a fresh start. On matters affecting overall strategy, force structure and military posture in Asia and elsewhere, President Barack Obama is the chief architect of the tougher edge to policy. - Peter J Brown

Petraeus circles two camps
With General Stanley McChrystal out of the picture in Afghanistan, pressure is growing on US President Barack Obama to move up his July 2011 troop withdrawal timetable and get behind a negotiated settlement with the Taliban. Voices calling for an open-ended military commitment are equally strident. Incoming General David Petraeus is soon to reveal how he will weave his way between the two camps. - Jim Lobe

The peak oil crisis: government in transition by Tom Whipple

(original)

Scanning Energy Bulletin after reading Archdruid Report

The Myth of Self Reliance
by Toby Hemenway

The peak oil crisis: revisiting the electric car
by Tom Whipple

China or the U.S.: which will be the last nation standing?
by Richard Heinberg

The Peak Oil Crisis: A Meeting in California
by Tom Whipple

(original)

The Peak Oil Crisis: As Summer Ends by Tom Whipple

The peak oil crisis: sustainability
Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press

Tom Whipple and Steve Andrews, ASPO-USA, Peak oil, bailout bunk, and the coming recession

Paul Craig Roberts, A Futile Bailout as Darkness Falls on America
Mike Whitney, Still on the Edge of the Abyss

The peak oil crisis: speculation, subsidies & megacities
Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press
Those living in the world’s new mega- and hypercities are going to have a far tougher time. Oil has built these monstrosities where 100s of millions will be trapped without direct access to food supplies and cooking fuel. Someday, the historians will note that the collapse of many megacities was among the first real tragedies of peak oil.
published May 29, 2008.

original

As the world’s population grew, more and more people found themselves gravitating to cities which grew to megacities (population of more than 10 million) and many will soon reach hypercity (population over 20 million) status. Unfortunately, most of our mega- and hypercities are not in the more well-off countries. Jakarta, Dhaka, Karachi, Bombay and Lagos are all in contention to become hypercities shortly.

Once you move or are born into one of these places, you are no longer in a position to raise much of your own food or gather your own cooking fuel. Whether you realize it or not, you have become dependent on cheap oil to raise and bring to you much of the food you eat, and petroleum-derived fuel, usually kerosene or propane, to cook it. Many in the underdeveloped world’s megacities live right on the edge. For them, food and fuel prices are a life and death issue.

Governments have long been aware of the affordability problem and have mandated various forms of subsidies or price caps for fuel. This practice is especially prevalent in Asia and oil in exporting countries which consider low fuel prices as a birthright. Venezuela is still the champion with gasoline retailing at around 12 cents a gallon.

Tom Whipple, After the peak?

After the peak?
Tom Whipple, Falls Church News-Press
The world has never been to peak oil before and there are so many factors that will affect a world in oil depletion, it is difficult, or better yet nigh impossible, to paint a picture of what life will be like 10 or 20 years from now.

The perfect storm
Dave Cohen, ASPO-USA / Energy Bulletin
The former head of Saudi Arabian exploration & production, Sadad Al-Husseini, has told the world that he now believes that the current level of world oil production will likely never be exceeded.
published October 31, 2007.

Oil reserves over-inflated by 300bn barrels – al-Huseini
David Strahan, Last Oil Shock
The world’s proved reserves have been have been falsely puffed up by the inclusion of 300 billion barrels of speculative resources, according to the former head of exploration and production at Saudi Aramco, and this explains the industry’s inability to raise output despite soaring prices.
published October 30, 2007.

Peak oil - Oct 29
Staff, Energy Bulletin
'Oil production has peaked' according to al-Huseini (former head of exploration and production at Saudi Aramco)
China to reach peak oil production as early as 2015 says leading scholar in Beijing
“Requiem for Fossil Fuels” performed in NYC
Kunstler: Assumptions
Downloadable peak oil presentation
Kenneth Deffeyes on feedback loops
ODAC news
published October 29, 2007.

Tom Whipple, The peak oil crisis: hurricanes and meltdowns

The peak oil crisis: hurricanes and meltdowns (original)

by Tom Whipple