|
|
|
|
 News |
| |
|
 Discussions |
| |
|
 Resources |
| |
|
 Members |
| | |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
kpeavey
Suggest Quote |
|
| |
|
|
|
Photo Album
Submit Photo
|
member photos
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Plenty of Pipeline Options. All Bad |
|
 Commentators have been quick to point out that Russia's defeat of Georgia has pretty much killed the chances that new oil and gas pipelines will be built to increase the security of supplies to Europe. It's clear that there is little to stop Russia from rolling its forces up to the existing pipeline or knocking it out of commission if it wanted to. The Washington Post's Steve Pearlstein even suggested that demonstrating the pipeline's vulnerability may have been one of the underlying motives for the Russian incursion.
The United States has been promoting the idea of pipeline routes skirting Russia as a way to promote European energy security, but the chances of making that work have always been slim. The reason: The United States has been simultaneously trying to keep Iran, the world's other major holder of natural gas reserves, out of world markets and out of alternate pipeline networks. Without the Iran card, it's very difficult to win a pipeline game against Russia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| New science looks at big picture for global future |
|
| A branch of science that has emerged over the past two decades is attempting to encompass both fundamental understanding and practical applications with a fascinating goal: to learn the degree to which humans are living in harmony with their environment and how they can continue to do so over the long term. Unlike many specialized scientific fields that might interest only a few people, this one ought to interest everyone!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Court says EPA air pollution rule is illegal |
|
States, local governments were barred from toughening monitoring
WASHINGTON - A Bush administration rule barring states and local governments from requiring more air pollution monitoring is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Peak oil bigger problem than climate change |
|
Peak oil is a much more immediate problem than climate change, delegates at a Finsia seminar heard yesterday.
But the potential ramifications of climate change just make the problem worse, said Ian Dunlop, a former petroleum engineer who is now the deputy convenor for the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Russia's Return Bites the Neocons' Grand Energy Scheme in the Ass |
|
| By James Howard Kunstler
You have to ask what were they smoking over at the Pentagon and the CIA when they thought they could control Russia's close neighbor.
The feeble American response to Russia's assertion of power in the Caucasus of Central Asia was appropriate, since our claims of influence in that part of the world are laughable. The US had taken advantage of temporary confusion in Russia, during the ten-year-long post-Soviet-collapse interval, and set up a client government in Georgia, complete with military advisors, sales of weapons, and even the promise of club membership in the western alliance known as NATO. These blandishments were all in the service of the Baku-to-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which was designed specifically to drain the oil region around the Caspian Basin with an outlet on the Mediterranean, avoiding unfriendly nations all along the way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Unraveling the Unraveling |
|
| Within the relatively small community of “Peakists”, they divide roughly into three groups; Cornucopians, Doomers and the largest group, that I will simply call Moderates. I would describe the Moderates as a group of very concerned, but cautiously optimistic, or not so optimistic people. I’m undecided where I fit in, but it is somewhere between the latter two.
Right up front I’ll confess to some hubris in the title, as there are many things which are simply unknowable, but a useful starting point for predicting the future is to examine the past.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Bill Clinton: 10 Things the U.S. Government Should Do For Clean Power |
|
| The 42nd U.S. President, Bill Clinton, delivered a top 10 laundry list of actions that the U.S. government should take to help solve the energy crisis during a speech to kick off the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Monday night. Along with the list, which advocated various incentives to accelerate the proliferation of clean technologies, Clinton suggested some more controversial plans: he raised the idea of a single state, like Nevada, or an area like Puerto Rico becoming energy independent — he said this could “rock the world.” And beyond his concrete policy advice, Clinton also confirmed previous reports that his foundation is looking into helping build solar thermal projects in India.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Saudi oil subsidy at stake over Musharraf exit |
|
| vox_mundi writes: SAUDI Arabia thrust itself into the Pervez Musharraf impeachment drama last night when it warned that a huge oil subsidy that provides life support for the moribund Pakistan economy was at risk unless he was given an "exit with dignity".
...No country exerts greater influence than Saudi Arabia on Pakistan, which is frequently seen as a vassal state of the House of Saud, and the appearance on the scene of Prince Muqrin, acting as a satrap, is seen as a potentially decisive development in the crisis.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| vox_mundi writes:
Russia, home to generations of chess masters, has made a series of brilliant moves in a game that its Western European opponents don't even seem to know that they're playing.
While Russia's troops still sit in neighboring Georgia, making an elaborate point about who wields the military power in the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia, Moscow has begun a sortie on a totally different front: Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled natural-gas monopoly, has offered to buy all of Azerbaijan's gas exports.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Kunstler: Suburban Legend |
|
| The American suburb was the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world… Why? Because it has no future, because we’re not going to be able to run it…. We don’t have the resource base to run it.
A lot of the delusions that are now rampant in the country all focus on the alternative energy scene. I want to be very clear about this, I am in favor of alternative energy. I think we’re going to do everything we possibly can. But the key to understanding alternative energy is this: First of all, we are going to be disappointed by what it can do for us, and second, it is not going to change the fact that we have to make other arrangements for all the important activities of daily life…
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Secret Deal For Iraq’s Oil |
|
| Four months before the United States invaded Iraq, the Department of Defense was secretly working with Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, Halliburton Corp., on a secret deal that would give the world’s second largest oil services company total control over Iraq’s oil fields, according to interviews with Halliburton’s most senior executives.
Previously undisclosed Halliburton documents obtained by The Public Record confirm that controlling the world’s second largest oil reserves was a top priority for the Bush administration. Additionally, the deal between the Department of Defense and Halliburton unit Kellogg, Brown & Root to operate Iraq’s oil industry saved Halliburton from imminent bankruptcy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Peak oil: Mayberry, not Mad Max |
|
| ...A critical mass of Americans who believe in an imminent zombie apocalypse runs the risk of making the future more difficult than it need be. Just as a Depression-era panic could crash a bank that would not otherwise have failed, so a widespread belief in a violent
and hopeless end could actually make Americans less likely to work together during the next outage or shortage.
In fact, Kaller said, peak oil is not going to be a sudden event, but a series of events slowly unfolding -- which gives people time to adapt, as we likely will. What this means is not a return to the 18th century, but a much shorter jump back in time:
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Peru suspends rights in jungle protest regions |
|
| LIMA, Peru - Peru's government declared a state of emergency Monday in remote jungle regions where Indian groups are blocking highways and oil and gas installations to protest a law that makes it easier to sell their lands.
The 30-day decree published in the official gazette suspends rights to public gatherings and free transit in three northern provinces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| China: Nation to get key oil reserve bases by year end |
|
| China will complete the construction of its first four strategic oil reserves by the end of this year, a senior government official said Monday.
"The progress has been smooth and all the four bases will be completed by the year end," Zhang Guobao, administrator of the National Energy Administration (NEA), said after a press conference in Beijing. "Their total capacity will amount to 16.4 million cu m."
|
|
|
|
|
|
| China's coal exports seen falling after tax hike |
|
| China's coal exports could fall further in September as higher export taxes take effect, pushing up international prices and giving Australian producers a stronger hand in upcoming contract negotiations.
China, the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, on Friday said it would impose an export tax of 10 percent on thermal coal starting Aug. 20, as it seeks to ease a severe power shortage that has forced half the nation to ration electricity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
There are currently, 273 guest(s) and 68 member(s) that are online.
You are Anonymous user. You can register for free by clicking here |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
