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Zero-sum game

By November 26, 2010
Buy Nothing Day Poster

When I was in college in Richmond, Virginia, there was a fabulous little hole in the wall of a bookshop called Carriage House Books. It's still there, near the campus, and just as cozy. Carriage House always welcomed browsers, even though it was crowded, pokey, and tiny. If you were particularly lucky you could snag one of those library-style step stools, blend in to a corner, and settle in for a good chapter from Sons and Lovers or Netochka Nezvanova. The waft of tea and incense could keep … [Read more...]

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

Neither apocalypse nor paradise

By November 26, 2010
hi, loser poster

I'm pleased that my little article on the high volume of collapse talk coming  from peak oil writers recently generated some attention. And I'm grateful that as someone so obviously committed to Transition as Dave Ewolt judged my musings worth an intelligent response. I'd like to address some of his excellent points here. For me, there are three issues in talking about any kind of post-peak collapse: what I know, what I don't know, and how I talk to people who don't care. We should be careful … [Read more...]

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

Do shoot the messenger

By November 24, 2010
big Buddha statue

If the right message is delivered by the wrong messenger, it probably won't get through. Even worse, the wrong messenger can make people who were neutral on an issue into hostile critics. Using the wrong messenger may be worse than using no messenger at all. That's the finding of a study on the Golden Rule done in October at the University of Virginia. For Christians, the Golden Rule is the right message, especially when you remind them that it came from Jesus. For example, Matthew 7:2: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Spirit Tagged With: , , , ,

Thank you for oil

By November 23, 2010
Prayer at Thanksgiving

As families gather around Thanksgiving tables to voice the things they're thankful for—usually family, friends, "this time together"—I'll be offering my thanks for oil. Not for the olive oil that might be used to sauté some of our veggies, though I'm thankful for that too. No, I'm talking about petroleum. When we think about oil we mostly see it as gasoline, or lubricant for a car. Petroleum so infuses every aspect of our modern life that its presence fades into the background. Oil is to … [Read more...]

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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: , , , , , ,

Reading between the lines of the IEA report

By November 16, 2010
world oil chart in Swedish

One of the more interesting occasions each year is learning just how far the International Energy Agency has come in the last 12 months towards publicly admitting that days of boundless cheap oil are over, just how high global oil production will ever get, and when the inevitable decline in production will set in. The IEA, of course, is not a completely free agent in formulating its discussion of peak oil, for it must take into account the collective positions of the 28 member countries that pay … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy Tagged With: , ,

What the Stewart rally means for Transition

By November 15, 2010
Sarah Palin is so important that this look alike showed up at the Rally To Restore Sanity

Listening is a much needed virtue, says Transition movement co-founder Rob Hopkins. And, he says, it's crucial to the effort to relocalize on which the Transition movement makes its case. That's why the model of civility in Transition has a welcome ally in the recent Rally to Restore Sanity. Gathering to do anything begins first with being able to gather peacefully—to listen, to honor, to be present. And never more so than now. That's why all the media grousing about the rally makes little … [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: , , , , ,