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Peak-ocalypse now: a cult of doom

By November 22, 2010
the four horsemen of the apocalypse

Change out those barrels of potable water, haul a few more cases of pork-n-beans down to the basement and make sure that Messrs Smith and Wesson are well oiled up. That's right -- it's time again for the Peak Oil Apocalypse show, sponsored naturally, by Goldline International. To hear many peak oil bloggers talk recently, you'd think that Western society was sure to collapse by Christmas. Is "community" bogus? Dmitry Orlov's blog is always a good place to go for a scary peak-oil bed-time … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Transition Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Can Palin and Glenn Beck make America solar?

By November 19, 2010
NASCAR fans

Solar power. Do-goodery. Environment. Limousine liberal. Rare. California. Eco-Yuppie. Expensive. GREEN. No doubt about it. The words that the general public associates with solar power these days are probably not the ones that will get most people to put PV panels or a solar hot-water heater on their roofs, as the blogger known as Dave puts it at 1blog.org. He suggests a new set of words: Average family. Self-reliance. National security. Practical. Economically Conservative. Increased home … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy Tagged With: , , , ,

I wish the British were coming

By November 18, 2010
British redcoats

America may need a British invasion to get an energy policy that will take us through peak oil. These days, the British seem to know better than we do when it comes to energy. So maybe they can help us out this time, as they have in the past. Fortunately, America has always been an Anglophile nation. Even if we chafed under their Crown, we did buy their culture. There's nothing we trust more than a BBC accent. The Beatles triumphed where two centuries earlier Lord Cornwallis had surrendered. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Midterm elections bring energy for dummies

By November 12, 2010
nuclear plant cooling towers

Now that the dust has settled from the US midterm elections, it's clear that in the energy world, nuclear power and oil and gas were winners, while the big loser was global warming. Democrat Henry Waxman, co-sponsor of the failed cap-and-trade bill, will be out as chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Michigan Republican Fred Upton will be in. Upton loves nuclear power and claims that building new reactors would create jobs and meet America's energy needs. “Nuclear makes a lot of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , ,

It’s official: Peak oil came in 2006

By November 10, 2010
vintage oil cans

The subject of peak oil seems to hover always at the margin of the national conversation. Every so often a prominent politician will make a veiled reference to problems with oil supplies. The Saudis will talk about "demand" declining. A mainstream media outlet will do a tongue-in-cheek profile of someone who's preparing for a post-peak world. Or some country's military will warn us yet again that oil depletion poses a threat to world peace. Then it's up to the peak oil community to read the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Solar power: the teddy bear of energy sources

By November 1, 2010
teddy bear

Is there a more lovable energy source than solar power? Its fuel is light from the sun, which is free and available almost anywhere. It's entirely clean to run. It's easy to install and maintain. The big utilities can use it to generate green grid power, but you can also put it on your own roof to become your own utility or to go off-grid. And did I mention that it's powered by THE SUN? (Full disclosure: I do some work for a solar power developer). It's no wonder that public support … [Read more...]

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Bailouts and body bags: US military plans for peak oil

By November 1, 2010
Rear Admiral Lawrence Rice

"I suggest that this is a good time to think soberly about our responsibilities to our descendants--those who will ring out the Fossil Fuel Age," said Admiral Hymen Rickover in 1957. Fast forward to 2010, and US military leadership clearly feels that the time has come again to talk about the Fossil Fuel Age and the national security dangers of its end. But this time, the warnings are less about our descendants than about Americans living today. "Our reliance on carbon-based fuels forces … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Greer finds power in nature spirituality

By November 1, 2010
John Michael Greer

No doubt about it. His long brown beard makes John Michael Greer look more like a Greek Orthodox archbishop than a writer on peak oil and the collapse of industrial society. And anyone who knows Greer as the mind behind the Archdruid Report will already know that Greer lives with a deep  commitment to the spiritual tradition of pre-Christian Britain, Ireland and Gaul. Leader of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, Greer heads up the US branch of an international movement to revive the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Spirit Tagged With: , , , , ,

Post carbon university

By November 1, 2010
The Post Carbon Reader

BOOK REVIEW The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crises Edited by Richard Heinberg and Daniel Lerch Watershed Media, 523 pp, $21.95 When I grew up in the Windy City in the seventies and eighties, the University of Chicago had the reputation as a school for grinds. After high school, I did not go there, but opted instead for a liberal arts college in a Southern state that offered what I felt was a superior book-to-beer balance. I had a childhood friend who … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: , , , , ,

Why Amtrak runs late

By November 1, 2010
Waiting on a Train by James McCommons

BOOK REVIEW Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service--A Year Spent Riding across America By James McCommons Foreword by James Howard Kunstler Chelsea Green, 284 pages, $17.95 The Amtrak train that connects my Virginia town to Washington, DC normally runs four or five hours behind schedule. This is apparently perplexing to the European tourists who dutifully arrive on time for their scheduled 1 p.m. departure. At least they get the best benches in the station … [Read more...]

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