Cycles of Recession

In 2002 Colin Campbell explained the economic effect of Peak Oil.

Pakistan’s Energy Crisis

As industries close and the cost of living rises across Pakistan due to electricity cuts and gas shortages, widespread frustration is heating public sentiment to a boiling point. “I think if this energy shortage continues, the public will get fed-up, and there are chances of an uprising like in Tunisia or Egypt, although the cause […]

Spain brings in measures to reduce oil dependence

Reuters reports the Spanish government is reacting against rising oil prices – Spain brings in measures to lower oil costs. Spain, aiming to reduce its dependence on oil as crude prices surge, will raise biofuel blending and lower both speed limits and rail fares, Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on Friday. The minimum […]

Richard Heinberg : 2008 All Over Again?

As oil prices reach $100 a barrel for the first time since 2008, many people are wondering whether 2011 will see a replay of crashing car sales, nose-diving airlines, and fuel-starved farmers. Food prices—which these days move almost in lockstep with oil prices—are already at frightening levels, leading Lester Brown of Earth Policy Institute to […]

Oil prices are rising fast and it’s come at the worst possible time for the West

In 2008, oil prices approached $150 per barrel. Shortly afterwards, the global economy collapsed. There were, of course, other problems at the time – an imploding US housing market, the beginnings of a securitisation crisis, the collapse of Lehman Brothers – but events three years ago nevertheless offer plenty of evidence that substantial changes in […]

The Corn Ultimatum: How long can Americans keep burning one sixth the world’s corn supply in our cars?

Bill Clinton warns: Too much ethanol could lead to food riots I am not a fan of our corn ethanol policy as I made clear made clear during the last food crisis (see “The Fuel on the Hill” and “Can words describe how bad corn ethanol is?” and “Let them eat biofuels!“).  In a world […]

The Oil-Fired, Grain-Fed Global Food Crisis

In other articles I have made the claim that because of our industrial food system, oil, food and population are inextricably linked. I have also claimed that a contraction in the world oil supply would cause a similar contraction in the world food supply, threatening the human population. This article fleshes out those claims a […]

With oil and food costs rising, it looks like 2008 all over again

History repeats itself: food riots are breaking out across the poorer nations, the Middle East is in turmoil and Brent crude has passed the $100 mark – 2011 is opening just like 2008 did. It was a significant year in terms of the global economy: social unrest around the world over a spike in the […]

Is a food crisis coming?

Food could soon hold a greater value than gold to many people with rising prices, civil unrest and food products such as corn being converted into fuel. Americans may soon understand what other countries such as Egypt already know. Regardless of what country you live in everyone could agree they have felt an increase in […]

Toyota Unleashes the Super Prius

When General Motors set out to build the Chevrolet Volt, it had one goal in mind above all else: give Toyota nightmares. Fed up with watching the Prius cruising along as the vehicular darling of the environmental set, GM launched the automotive equivalent of a moonshot program, hoping to steal the spotlight with a next-gen […]

Peak Oil: Recreation Changes

People will find it harder to participate in oil based recreational activities as Peak Oil hits. World oil supply high demand solar how to alternative fuels global warming Peak Oil crisis understanding explaining peakoil petroleum future apocalypse end crash energy inflation gas gasoline prices unemployment fuel finance resource wars middle east war military kunstler heinberg […]

There is No Steady State Economy (except at a very basic level)

We keep seeing statements from the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy suggesting that a steady state economy is desirable. I would agree that growth in a finite world is not sustainable, but even continuation of our current level economic level, or a drop to an economic level two or three levels […]

Rising alarm over global scarcities

As the world’s population expands, competition for food, water and energy will intensify, sending up prices for basic commodities. Hunger will increase, and waves of migrants will flee the worst-affected areas. That was the warning Sir John Beddington issued in 2009 when he was chief scientific adviser to the UK government. He predicted a “perfect […]

The Six-Legged Meat of the Future

At the London restaurant Archipelago, diners can order the $11 Baby Bee Brulee: a creamy custard topped with a crunchy little bee. In New York, the Mexican restaurant Toloache offers $11 chapulines tacos: two tacos stuffed with Oaxacan-style dried grasshoppers. Could beetles, dragonfly larvae and water bug caviar be the meat of the future? As […]

John Michael Greer: Energy What really matters

It’s not uncommon, when I give public talks about the end of the industrial age, for people to ask me whether I can offer them any hope. Now of course people mean many different things by the very indefinite word at the end of that utterance; some want me to tell them that I was […]

Trying to untangle the mystery of China’s oil reserve

One of the big mysteries in the oil world is how much crude China is sticking in its newly-developed strategic petroleum reserve. In a recent report,  Barclay’s attempts to answer the question. In short, the answer is: not much in 2010, but maybe a lot more in 2011. Unlike the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, where […]

A New Look At Peak Oil’s Impact: The Sales Conference

Earlier this week, my wife and I returned from an 8-day trip to the West Coast. After suspending their annual sales conference for the past two years, my wife’s company resumed the practice this year. (The usual methodology is to alternate West Coast and East Coast locales, so we’ll be attending next year’s conference here […]

Peak oil will have an adverse effect on all economies

The modern global economy has been built on cheap oil and its abundant availability. In spite of oil crises in the past, the world has so far survived unscathed. But what will happen to the world economy and to the Thai economy in particular in the aftermath of “peak oil”? WikiLeaks cables, as reported widely […]

Collapse of Complex Societies by Dr. Joseph Tainter

The collapse of complex societies of the past can inform the present on the risks of collapse. Dr. Joseph Tainter, author of the book The Collapse of Complex societies, and featured in Leonardo Dicaprio’s film The Eleventh Hour, details the factors that led to the collapse of past civilizations including the Roman Empire. This is […]

Food Crisis 2011: The Global Food Shortage Has Already Begun

Will 2011 be the year that we point to as the beginning of the great global food crisis?  Food prices are soaring, supplies are very tight and already we have seen some very intense food protests flare up around the globe this year.  When people don’t have enough to eat, they tend to become very […]

Food: What’s really behind the unrest in Egypt

It’s more than coincidence the Arab world is convulsing with social unrest just as the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s widely watched price index recently soared past the previous food price peak set in the summer of 2008. After all, didn’t those same prices ignite food riots throughout the world only three summers ago? […]

The power of the permaculture

Why permaculture design? Peak oil, loss of diversity, species extinction, conspiracy, oil spills, food insecurity … the problems that we face seem to increase both in size and complexity every day. However, we can simplify all of these global issues and emphasize three primary concerns. In order of increasing priority, the three biggest issues are: […]

Rising Food Prices May Not Signal New Crisis

As food prices rose for the seventh month in a row in January, contributing to recent popular unrest in the Middle East and a spike in commodities purchases by developing countries last week, some analysts are quick to make comparisons to the dry years of 2007-2008. But others warn against panic and oversimplified predictions of […]

Transition Footwear

I bought a new pair of shoes lately.  All my friends gleefully applauded my purchase, and my husband was very pleased too. You see, about three weeks ago, while on the construction site for the new community garden we’re building in my neighborhood, I sprained my ankle pretty badly.  Limping awkwardly, I discovered very quickly […]

Why Oil Matters More Than Rubber

I was thinking about Paul Krugman’s Cross of Rubber column, and in particular the associated blog post Commodities: This Time is Different.  My take on Krugman is that he’s an extremely brilliant guy who’s been thinking about economics for a good long time.  His enormous knowledge and insight are invaluable, and I pay close attention […]

The World’s Most Fuel Efficient Car

This likely blows previous fuel efficiency records out of the water: VW to roll out 313mpg car in Germany and UK Last week at the Qatar Motor Show saw the world debut of Volkswagen’s XL1, a diesel-electric hybrid two-seater that can do 313mpg (0.9 l/100 km) and an announcement that the vehicle will enter limited […]

In Paper We Trust

Over the past year I have been engaged in negotiations with my former employer concerning the amount of my pension. I thought I had an iron clad case. I possessed company documentation from several years back. It clearly specified at the time of the conversion of the plan from a traditional defined benefit plan to […]

Richard Heinberg on Peak Oil

A short clip from our interview with Richard Heinberg, author of “The Party’s Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies” (2003), “Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World” (2004), and “Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines” (2007).

Industrial civilization at the cross roads

At this late juncture in the era of industry, it seems safe to assume we face one of two futures. If we continue to burn fossil fuels, we face imminent environmental collapse. If we cease burning fossil fuels, the industrial economy will collapse. Industrial society expresses these futures as a choice between your money or […]

How is an oil shortage like a missing cup of flour?

If I bake a batch of cookies and the recipe calls for two cups of flour, but I have only one, it is pretty clear that I can’t bake a full batch of cookies. All I can make is half a batch. I will end up with half of the sugar, and half of the […]

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