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Peak oil, adapting for big changes ahead

By February 22, 2012
Vintage Pump

Peak oil. What changes might it bring and what mind shifts may we have to make to prepare ourselves to face these challenges, both in a practical sense and psychologically? This is the basis for Peak Moment TV Conversation' 351 with Energy Bulletin co-editor Bart Anderson. With the possibility of such dramatic change to how we live, how we interact with the world, and even how we think and view things, what do we need to do to make this transition easier? School's in Anderson urges … [Read more...]

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From the vault: Review, Soylent Green

By February 21, 2012
Soylent Green smog

Admit it: you love Soylent Green. Whenever it appears on any late-night television schedule, fans of the cult film have to watch. Not because it’s a good movie. With its cheesy “futuristic” music and leading man Charlton Heston’s faux tough-guy dialogue, Soylent Green is an easy target to lampoon. But its impact – and its message – continues to be surprisingly durable. Apocalypse bites The year is 2022. Scarcity – of every resource – is a fixed fact of life for the 40 … [Read more...]

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Will Occupy Wall Street start drilling for peak oil?

By February 17, 2012
Enbridge Protest: Wedding Reception for Minister Oliver and Big Oil

Though there's been a flurry of books about the Occupy movement in the last few months, few of them have said much about energy and the environment. Predictably, writers have largely focused so far on the core issues that originally filled Zuccotti Park last fall, an unfair economy and politics corrupted by corporate lucre. Now comes a new title on Occupy that takes ecological overshoot seriously, Occupy World Street: A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform. Refreshingly, … [Read more...]

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The Grey, a peak oil flick quick take

By February 16, 2012
The Grey.

John Ottway has the job at the end of the world. He's a sharpshooter who protects oil rig workers from animal predators lurking in the wilderness surrounding a remote Alaskan oil facility in the new film, The Grey. When Ottway (Liam Neeson) and some of his co-workers workers board a light plane for Nome, he finds out quickly that his knowledge of wolf behavior will come in handy. The plane crashes and he and the handful of survivors face an ultimate battle of survival with no fuel, food or GPS … [Read more...]

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Young couple finds freedom in simple living

By February 14, 2012
Smith and Strober

Peak oil isn't all about Saudi Arabia depletion curves and what's for lunch at the annual ASPO conference. In fact, may folks still don't know much about peak oil. I didn't know about it until recently. My casual online search for ideas about how to simplify my home led me, via Peak Moment, to so much more than I could ever have imagined. I found an episode about a couple who were simplifying, which was my introduction to Peak Moment, and also to the issue of peak oil. More than 200 … [Read more...]

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Seeing Berry’s Wilderness again

By February 8, 2012
Wendell-Berry

In the early '90s I made the conscious decision to drop out of college. I distinctly remember the day I withdrew from classes and made the call to my parents. I remember thinking: "Now I'm a statistic." College dropout. I watched as the debt grew and my confidence in finding a suitable career faded. I made the decision to drop out based on the reality that I could avoid debt and simply work. I resolved to be satisfied with less. I broke my social contract outright. Believe it or not, I had … [Read more...]

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The house that freedom built

By February 2, 2012
yurt

Let's say you want to resign from the rat race, unplug from the Matrix and start living in harmony with nature. Where to begin? The quest for freedom can start with buying less stuff, getting out of debt or learning to meet more of your own needs yourself. But for many, the path away from consumerism is blocked by the brick wall of a mortgage. All too often making the payments is modern debt slavery that ties you to a job you may hate and a daily commute that wastes money and time while … [Read more...]

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Peak kitsch: “The Crisis of Civilization”

By January 31, 2012
Carbon Man

An ongoing issue in the peak oil world is how to tell the story of declining non-renewable resources in a way that's accessible to a wider audience, while remaining credible to experts. To reach out without dumbing down. Most experts on energy and the economy have already made up their minds on the financial crisis, global warming and peak oil and no one documentary is going to shake the faith of these stalwarts. But the public is a different story and there's plenty of room there for … [Read more...]

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Occupying your bookshelf

By January 26, 2012
Occupy Wall Street library

To refute critics in the mainstream media who claim that the Occupy movement has no demands, Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America, edited by a team of activist editors including Astra Taylor and Keith Gessen, begins with a list of demands from organizers in an OWS planning meeting in New York. These range from the expected -- repealing Citizens United, debt forgiveness and a "Tobin" tax on financial transactions -- to the quirky -- removing the bull sculpture from Wall Street and … [Read more...]

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Review of Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth 

By January 24, 2012
Growthbusters

Does growth always mean prosperity? To people who have been paying attention to economic and environmental trends in the last decade or two, much of the basic information in the film Growthbusters: Hooked on Growth won't come as a surprise. We know our farmland, fisheries, timber supply, atmosphere and economy are all in decline. And we may see that driving all of these trends is the relentless expansion of human population, now over seven billion. Who you gonna call? What Growthbusters … [Read more...]

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